Laser-induced fluorescence measurements of absolute SiH densities in - RF discharges and comparison with a numerical model

Laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy is used to measure spatially resolved SiH radical densities in pure and radio-frequency glow discharges devoted to amorphous silicon thin-film deposition. Absolute density calibration is achieved by a Rayleigh scattering measurement in . Typical SiH densities of some are measured on the plasma axis with a detection limit of . The experimental results are compared to the SiH densities calculated by a two-dimensional numerical model of the plasma. A good agreement is found both in hydrogen-diluted and pure silane plasmas.