The role of dissociative attachment from Rydberg states in enhancing H− concentration in moderate- and low-pressure H2 plasma sources

A numerical code, recently developed for describing the kinetics of H2 microwave discharges obtained in diamond deposition plasma reactors, was used to estimate the importance of dissociative attachment from H2 Rydberg states in enhancing the production of H− in this kind of discharge. It was also used to investigate H− production in multicusp low-pressure magnetic plasmas. Results show that the dissociative attachment from Rydberg states can be as important as the mechanism involving vibrationally excited molecules in both types of plasmas.