Development of a novel plasma probe for the investigation and control of plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition coating processes

A plasma probe and measuring method were developed to simultaneously determine both the electron density, ne, and floating potential in plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) coating processes within low‐pressure plasmas. The functionality of the probe with a high deposition rate is demonstrated on the basis of examples using hexamethyldisiloxane as a precursor gas. The results show that the developed probe can determine both the ne (∼1015 m−3) and the time‐varying floating potential. The results also indicate that the probe is effective for monitoring the changes in the plasma condition caused by the pressure and the gas flow rate during the coating process. This method can contribute to confirm the process and chamber conditions in PECVD processes. A new plasma probe method that is able to measure the electron density and floating potential at the same time and location is developed in this study. The results successfully demonstrate that the method is suitable for measurements in high depositing environment for polymeric film coating processes using hexamethyldisiloxane gas. This method can contribute to describe and control the coating process.