The development of diode laser infrared absorption spectroscopy as a plasma diagnostic

A high resolution infrared spectrometer based on a tunable lead salt diode laser has been interfaced to both a DC glow discharge and to the downstream region of an ECR plasma etcher. In each case high sensitivity is achieved by multi-passing the infrared beam, using a Herriott type optical arrangement consisting of two facing spherical mirrors. In the DC discharge a 1 m long by 15 cm diameter section of the positive column is sampled using typically 42 passes between 10 cm mirrors roughly 2 m apart. In the ECR device a region approximately 50 cm downstream from the ECR layer of a 0-1 kW ASTeX source is sampled. Effective path lengths of about 9 m are achieved with 30 passes. The abundance of CF...