Modeling Chemical Evolution in a Cold Molecular Plasma: Quantum Dynamics of CF2 – Intermediates after Electron Attachment

A dynamical study is presented for the chemical processes induced by electrons (with energies up to about 16 eV) on gaseous CF2 (X1A1 state), one of the important components of plasma etching molecular mixtures. The nuclear deformations from the C 2v initial geometry are seen to lead to different anionic intermediates that suggest different chemical evolutions into final fragments. All nuclear motions are shown to be effective for the formation of a variety of resonances which could lead to different final fragments. The effect of the above vibrational activation of the transient anionic states initially formed at the equilibrium geometry is analyzed and discussed in detail, providing compelling evidence and physical reasons for the fragment observations given by various experiments on such plasmas.