Enhanced radical formation by electron attachment to highly-excited states of molecules in plasmas

Summary form only given. Large number densities of radicals are required in plasma assisted material processing where the formation of radicals is governed by conventional plasma chemical process. Operational pressure in plasma reactors has been greatly reduced to 10/sup -3/-10/sup -4/ torr to achieve the good control of particles transport toward the substrate. However low operational pressure results in the relatively low deposition rate. Therefore new plasma chemical reactions have to be pursued in order to efficiently produce radicals. We present a new experimental technique to obtain enhanced radical formation by electron attachment to highly excited state of molecules.