[en] Optical emission spectroscopy is used to investigate the effect of neon mixing on the excitation and vibrational temperatures of the second positive system in nitrogen plasma generated by a 13.56 MHz RF generator. The excitation temperature is determined from Ne I line intensities, using Boltzmann's plot. The overpopulation of the levels of the N₂ (C ³Π_u, ν') states with neon mixing are monitored by measuring the emission intensities of the second positive system of nitrogen molecules. The vibrational temperature is calculated for the sequence Δν = -2, with the assumption that it follows Boltzmann's distribution. But due to overpopulation of levels, e.g. 1, 4, a linearization process was employed for such distributions allowing us to calculate the vibrational temperature of the N₂ (C ³Π_u, ν') state. It is found that the excitation temperature as well as the vibrational temperature of the second positive system can be raised significantly by mixing neon with nitrogen plasma. It is also found that the vibrational temperature increases with power and pressure up to 0.5 mbar.

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[en] This paper deals with optical emission spectroscopic studies of low pressure (p=0.1→0.5 mbar) Ne-N₂ capacitively coupled radio frequency (rf) plasma that can be used for plasma nitriding, etc. It reports the methods to calculate the electron temperature (T_e) in nonthermal plasmas. Since, the selected Ne I lines, used to calculate electron temperature, are found in corona balance; therefore, it allows us to use modified Boltzmann technique to calculate electron temperature. Langmuir probe is also used to calculate electron temperature and electron energy distribution functions (EEDFs). The measurements are worked out for different discharge parameters like neon percentage, filling pressure and RF power. It is found that electron temperature increases with the increase in neon percentage and decreases with the increase in pressure, whereas excitation temperature (T_exc) increases with power, neon percentage, and decreases with pressure. It is also observed that electron temperature measured by Langmuir probe technique is slightly greater than the one measured via modified Boltzmann plot method. The tails of the EEDFs gain height and extend toward the higher energy with the increase in neon percentage in the mixture

[en] Optical emission spectroscopic measurement of trace rare gas is carried out to determine the density of nitrogen (N) atom, in a nitrogen plasma, as a function of filling pressure and RF power applied. 2% of argon, used as an actinometer, is mixed with nitrogen. In order to normalize the changes in the excitation cross section and electron energy distribution function at different operational conditions, the Ar-I emission line at 419.83 nm is used, which is of nearly the same excitation efficiency coefficient as that of the nitrogen emission line at 493.51 nm. It is observed that the emission intensity of the selected argon and atomic nitrogen lines increases with both pressure and RF power, as does the nitrogen atomic density. (low temperature plasma)