Formation of SiC nanoparticles in an atmospheric microwave plasma

• Martin Vennekamp,
• Ingolf Bauer,
• Matthias Groh,
• Evgeni Sperling,
• Susanne Ueberlein,
• Maksym Myndyk,
• Gerrit Mäder and
• Stefan Kaskel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 665–673, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.71

• temperature the most important factor for the ion diffusion in the plasma [21]. In turn the transport coefficient of these particles determines the growth kinetics of the nanoparticles. The majority of ions and hot electrons in our experiments were produced from the excited argon sheath gas. By reacting the

• TMS precursor in the vapour phase with plasma-induced hot electrons, the rate-limited nucleation reaction step is accelerated and a significantly higher reaction rate is sustained at lower temperatures than is possible with thermal activation alone [9]. An important advantage of the plasma process for

• decomposition of TMS has been shown. The reaction is initiated by collisions between electrons and neutral molecules of TMS. By reacting the TMS precursors in the vapour phase with plasma-induced hot electrons, the nucleation reaction step is accelerated and a significantly higher reaction rate is sustained at