Gas-Phase Chemistry of Pulsed n-Hexane Discharge

Many types of carbon films are being investigated for use in many different applications for their electrical, mechanical, and optical properties. Organic based plasmas are beginning to be used for the production of a wide variety of novel film stacks. The use of these stacks can range from sensor to dielectrics for flexible electronics to biocompatible surfaces. Knowledge of how these films actually grow is largely unknown. In light of this, we have performed Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to the study of hexane plasmas. We use this diagnostic to identify different plasma-produced daughter species produced from n-hexane. For example, we observe the creation of methane, ethylene, and acetylene. From this we develop a likely dissociation model for the parent gas.