Changing pattern of N₂ dissociation in N₂-Ar RF plasma during E-H mode transition

The behaviour of nitrogen plasma mixed with varying proportions of argon (10%-80%) is investigated under different RF discharge conditions. It is observed that at a relatively low RF power of 200 W (E-mode) the dissociation fraction (DF) of nitrogen increases with the growing concentration of argon, whereas the opposite happens for a higher RF power of 1000 W (H-mode), when the DF rapidly falls from a high value as the argon percentage starts to increase. This rising trend of DF closely follows the argon metastable fraction (MF) in the E-mode, and for the H-mode it is not followed until the argon percentage crosses the 20% mark. The electron density, temperature and electron energy probability function (EEPF) are obtained using a RF compensated Langmuir probe and to evaluate the vibrational and rotational temperatures, DF, MF etc, a separate optical emission spectroscopy technique is incorporated. At 5 x 10(-3) mbar of working pressure and 10% argon content the EEPF profile reveals that the plasma changes from non-Maxwellian to Maxwellian as the RF power jumps from 200 W to 1000 W, and for a fixed RF power the high energy tail tends to move upwards with the gradual increment of argon. These observations are reverified theoretically by considering electron-electron collision frequency and electron bounce frequency as a function of electron temperature. Overall, all the major experimental phenomena in this study are explained in terms of EEPF profile, electron-electron collision effect, electron and gas temperature, electron density and argon metastable population.