Development of fine-particle plasma systems for basic and applied research.

Two plasma systems for basic and applied research on fine-particle plasmas have been developed. One is a planar-magnetron plasma system, by which fine particles are suspended apart from the region of plasma production and are driven upward, for the basic research of fine-particle plasmas. Fine particles are observed to be horizontally arranged even when they have a size of 6.5 um. The other one is a hot-filament-assisted plasma chemical vapor deposition system for nano-carbon synthesis. Synthesis processes have been analyzed by mass spectroscopy, light scattering and self-bias voltage. It was shown that negatively charged carbon fine particles were confined for a long time in plasmas during generation and growth. Synthesized carbon fine particles were confirmed to contain single-walled carbon nanotubes by analyzing the results of Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]