Progress in Plasma Processing of Materials, 1999

ISBN Print: 1-56700-126-2

VITREOUS SILICA LAYERS SYNTHESIZED BY AN INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA TORCH (ICPT) WORKING AT ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE: DEPOSITION AND CHARACTERIZATION

DOI: 10.1615/ITPPC-1998.1290
pages 885-890

Аннотация

A home-made inductively coupled plasma torch (ICPT), working at atmospheric pressure, has been used for the synthesis of high-purity, low OH content, fused silica layers for application in the technological fields of fiber optics and optical waveguide production ([1], [2]). The gaseous reactants (SiCl4 and GeCl4) have been injected in the plasma tail and both rod and slab targets have been used and suitably moved to obtain deposited layers of good quality. The samples have been chemically and physically analyzed with the aim of testing their morphological and optical characteristics (refractive index, OH content) using various techniques (molecular microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, optical spectroscopy, refractive index profile analysis). A selection of results referring to the deposition of pure silica layers with very good optical and morphological characteristics will be described, together with a description of the ICPT system.