Experiments on the deposition of GaN thin films were carried out in an ECR plasma reactor using nitrogen gas and Trimethylgallium MG.as precursors. Electron temperature and nitrogen species adjacent to the substrate surface during deposition were measured by a CCD spectrometer. We observed an optimum electron temperature for the growth rate. The result suggests that tuning of electron energyor temperature. can be used to optimize the deposition and electron temperature near the substrate surface may be a candidate for one of the control parameters in plasma-assisted CVD.

Using a technique applied previously to vibrationally excited molecular nitrogen (N*2) in the region of daytime and nighttime aurora, the emission intensity of the N2 second positive band system in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) has been analysed and the vibrational temperature of nitrogen molecules in the ICP is thus determined. The result shows that the vibrational temperature increases with the increase of the neutral gas pressure from 0.04Pa to 10Pa, then decreases with the further increase of the pressure from 10Pa to 100Pa. Also, this is explained by using the Boltzmann relation between the vibrational temperature and the concentration of the vibrationally excited N*2 (X1+g) molecules.

Experiments have been conducted on Constance B to study transport properties in electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) heated plasmas of high-charge-state neon ions. Measurements were made of confinement parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field at heating frequencies of 10.5 and 14 GHz, and corresponding ECR magnetic field strengths. Although radial ion losses scaled approximately as B-2, the total particle confinement time was independent of magnetic field. Thus, higher current densities of mulficharged neon ions were extracted at higher ECR heating frequency and magnetic field.

The linear and quasilinear theory of the collisionless trapped electron mode (also called the "ubiquitous" mode) is analyzed, in order to illustrate its possible role in the electron thermal energy transport observed in magnetically confined plasmas. This instability is driven by the combined effects of the plasma pressure gradient (which includes the contributions from the temperature gradients of ions and electrons) and of the local magnetic curvature drift of trapped electrons and of circulating and trapped ions. Depending on the value of its wavelength across the magnetic field, this mode can connect with a branch of the ion temperature gradient instability, provided the ion temperature gradient is sufficiently strong. Also, under certain conditions, it can be driven unstable solely by a combination of electron temperature gradient and Landau damping by trapped electrons. The relevant modes are found to be robust against variation of parameters such as the electron collisionality, and to be consistent candidates in order to explain the experimentally observed rate of electron thermal energy transport from the center of the plasma column.

Polymer coating on the surface of inorganic ceramic nanoparticles is beneficial to decrease agglomeration and improve dispersion in organic solvent in ceramic injection moulding technology. A layer of thin polymer film on zirconia nanoparticles is deposited by inductively coupled ethylene/nitrogen plasma. Transmission electron microscopy photographs indicate the presence of uniform polymer coatings and the thickness of the polymer layer is estimated as several nanometers. The chemical structure of the film is revealed as quasi-polyethylene long hydrocarbon chain by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy examination.