title: The role of carrier gases in the production of metastable argon atoms in a rf discharge.
abstract: We investigate the role of carrier gases in the production of metastable argon atoms in a rf-driven discharge. The effects of different carrier gases (krypton, xenon, neon, and helium), carrier gas pressures, and rf discharge powers are examined. A xenon carrier gas provides the greatest metastable population of argon, yielding an optimal fractional metastable population of argon (Ar(*)/Ar) of 2x10(-4) at 0.2 mTorr of xenon gas. The optimal krypton configuration yields 60% of the xenon-supported population at 1.5 times higher pressure. Neon and helium perform considerably worse probably due to their higher ionization potentials.
authors.affiliation: Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA. rudinger@anl.gov
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rudinger
authors.forename: Zheng-Tian
authors.initials: ZT
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mueller