The characteristics of high density helicon wave plasma generated in a quartz tube of 10 cm in diameter have been studied. The optimum conditions for efficiently exciting helicon wave plasma have been investigated. It is also observed that the plasma fully ionized by helicon waves has the ion pumping effect. Whether the discharge is inductive or capacitive, the plasma potential is important, since it determines the energy of the ion incident on the wall. It is investigated theoretically and experimentally that the fluctuation of the plasma potentials influences the ion energy distribution functions monitored by retarding field energy analyzer. It is also observed that the plasma potential fluctuates with peak-to-peak voltage $V_{p-p}$ in the low density mode. The radio frequency modulation to the plasma potential is weaker in the helicon mode than in the low mode.
In most helicon wave experiments, there has been poor agreement between theory and the plasma density radial profiles.
The characteristics of the solenoid antenna employed for the excitation of m=1 mode helicon waves in plasma are investigated. A cylindrical high density plasma column with high intensity of ArII emission is observed to be a cylindrical shell shape. In cross-section, the location of the high intensity column nearly coincides with the maximum point of wave power deposition. The radial profiles of the wave magnetic field are in good agreement with computations. These results show excellent agreement between the theory and density profile produced by m=1 helicon wave. The characteristics of plasma produced by m=±1 and m=±2 mode helicon waves have been firstly investigated. Plane polarized m=±1 and m=±2 mode helicon waves are mainly excited using a Nagoya type III antenna and a quadrupole antenna, respectively. Two dimensional cross-field measurements of ArII optical emission induced by hot electrons are made to investigate the RF power deposition. The components of the wave magnetic field measured with a magnetic probe were compared with the field profiles computed for the m=±1 and m=±2 modes. Two and four high intensity plasma columns are observed for the m=±1 and m=±2 modes. These columns are located at the regions between the antenna legs. The radial profiles of the wave magnetic field are in excellent agreement with computations.
SiOF films deposited by a helicon wave plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method have been characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and ellipsometry. High density plasma of $>10^{12}cm^{-3}$ can be obtained on a substrate at low pressure(<10mTorr) with rf power of >400 using a helicon plasma source with $SiF_4$ and $O_2$ gases. A gas mixture of $SiF_4$, $O_2$, and $Ar$ was used to deposit SiOF films on 5 inch Si(100) wafers not intentionally heated. Optical emission spectroscopy was used to study the relation between the relative densities of the radicals and the deposition mechanism. It was found that the addition of Ar gas to the $SiF_4/O_2$ mixture greatly increased the F concentration in the SiOF film. Discharge conditions such as gas composition, sheath potential, and the relative densities of the radicals affect the properties of the film. The dielectric constant of the SiOF film deposited using the helicon plasma source was 3.1, a value lower than that of the oxide film by other method.
