Diagnostics of an RF Plasma Flash Evaporation Process Using the Monochromatic Imaging Technique

The high densities and high gas temperature of rf plasmas at pressures near 1 atm are favorable for the development of plasma sources capable of evaporating solid precursors in the plasma zone. In the cooler region downstream of the plasma, the evaporated material condenses to nanoparticles and/or coatings. The complete evaporation of precursors injected into a thermal plasma depends on plasma and precursor parameters and is studied in this paper. Since many parameters contribute to the evaporation, fast experimental techniques are necessary to carry out a systematic study of the evaporation process. The monochromatic imaging technique applied in this work uses an intensified CCD camera with optical filters for the detection of characteristic plasma emission lines. The high spatial and temporal resolution of this technique results in a detailed picture of plasma emission and particle evaporation for different process parameters. These results are compared to model calculations for particle evaporation.