Study of the chemical etching of carbon surfaces facing argon/hydrogen plasmas in a helicon type reactor

Abstract

The study of the chemical erosion by atomic hydrogen of graphite in the purpose of characterizing etching and re deposition growth kinetics is presented. Carbon samples undergo plasma treatment under different time-exposures and gas mixtures at 10 mTorr, determined as the optimal pressure. The etching outcomes are analyzed via mass loss and structure comparison (SEM, micro-Raman spectroscopy) in order to evaluate the impact of the different experimental conditions, i.e. pressure, gas mixture, RF power coupling mode and erosion duration.