Gas Analysis for Plasmas using a Quartz Sensor

Our partial pressure measurement for a binary gas with a quartz sensor can be applied to plasmas. In this study, the Q-sensor outputs, which depend on pressure, molecular weight and viscosity of gases, were compared to the results by gas analysis with a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS). For H2 plasmas, the Q-sensor outputs changed when discharges were turned on and off. On the other hand, the results from mass spectroscopy by the QMS showed the degas of carbon monoxide (CO) during the discharges. Since the changes of the Q-sensor outputs correspond to the CO production above, it can be concluded that the Q-sensor measurements can detect the gas composition changes in the plasmas, thereby, can be used as a simple gas analysis method compared to a conventional mass spectrometer.