Characteristics and Plasma Parameters of the Overstressed Nanosecond Discharge in Air between an Aluminum Electrode and a Chalcopyrite Electrode (СuInSe2)

Abstract

The characteristics and parameters of an overstressed high-current discharge with a duration of 100–150 ns in air, which was ignited between an aluminum electrode and a chalcopyrite electrode (CuInSe₂), are presented. The air pressure was 13.3 and 101.3 kPa. In the process of microexplosions of inhomogeneities on the working surfaces of electrodes in a strong electric field, aluminum vapors and chalcopyrite vapors were introduced into the interelectrode gap, which creates the prerequisites for the synthesis of thin films based on quaternary chalcopyrite: CuAlInSe₂. The films synthesized from the products of electrode destruction were deposited on a quartz plate at a distance of 2–3 cm from the center of the discharge gap. The current and voltage pulses across the discharge gap of d = 1 mm, as well as the pulse energy input into the discharge, were investigated. The plasma emission spectra were studied, which made it possible to establish the main decay products of the chalcopyrite molecule and the energy states of atoms and singly charged ions of aluminum, copper and indium, which are formed in the discharge. The reference spectral lines of atoms and ions of aluminum, copper, and indium were established, which can be used to control the process of deposition of thin films of quaternary chalcopyrite. Thin films were synthesized from the degradation products of chalcopyrite molecules and aluminum vapors, which may have the composition of the quaternary chalcopyrite CuAlInSe₂; the transmission spectra of the synthesized films in the spectral range of 200–800 nm were studied. By the method of numerical simulation of the plasma parameters of an overstressed nanosecond discharge based on aluminum and chalcopyrite vapors in air by solving the Boltzmann kinetic equation for the electron energy distribution function, the electron temperature and density, the specific power losses of the discharge for the main electronic processes and their rate constants depending on the value parameter E/N for plasma of vapor-gas mixtures based on air, aluminum vapor, and ternary chalcopyrite were modulated.