Tunable diode laser absorption for plasma diagnostics

Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) has become a versatile tool in plasma diagnostics. It offers the opportunity to monitor the relevant plasma conditions and parameters like atom density and temperature of selected species and thus can be used for process control. In this work the TDLAS method has been applied to monitor the temporal and spatial distribution of metastable argon atoms and of aluminum atoms in different plasma systems, e.g., capacitively coupled radiofrequency discharge and magnetron discharge for thin film deposition [1]. Results will be presented at the conference. [1] Matthias Wolter, Hoang Tung Do, Hartmut Steffen and Rainer Hippler, Aluminium atom density and temperature in a dc magnetron discharge determined by means of blue diode laser absorption spectroscopy, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 38, 2390-2395 (2005)