Detection of particles of less than 5 nm in diameter formed in an argon–silane capacitively coupled radio-frequency discharge

A method for the detection of dust particles occurring in silane–argon gas mixture plasmas is presented. It is based on the spectral analysis of the radio-frequency current. The amplitudes of the fundamental (13.56 MHz) and second harmonics (40.68 MHz) are very sensitive to the presence of the earlier nanoparticles when their size is in the range of 2–3 nm even if their influence on the capacitive character of the impedance is negligible. This method is nonperturbative, with a temporal resolution in the microsecond range, very easy to implement, and can thus be used for industrial reactors.