Cycling Instabilities In A Gas Aggregation Cluster Source Used For Plasma Polymer Nanoparticle Fabrication

This work investigates plasma instabilities occurring in a Gas Aggregation Cluster Source (GAS) and correlates them with the formation and growth of hydrocarbon nanoparticles (NPs). For this aim, special configuration of the GAS was employed, which allows for simultaneous measurements of the discharge voltage, the optical emission (OES) and the mass spectra (MS). Cycling instabilities with a period of 80 s were detected in the deposition rate which correlated with the changes in the discharge voltage, the intensity of the plasma emission and the concentration of hydrocarbon species.