Environment with reduced ion bombardment energy for levitated particles in an rf plasma

We describe levitation of diamond fine particles in an H2 rf plasma chamber equipped with an adaptive rf electrode. Since suppression of ion bombardment is essential for crystalline diamond growth, we use an adaptive rf electrode system in a parallel-plate capacitively coupled rf plasma in order to levitate particles in a quasineutral 'spot plasma' region. Here the ions' energy corresponds only to the floating potential of the particles without the additional energy of the streaming ions as in the sheath. One can expect ion bombardment with considerably reduced ion energy when this technique is applied to diamond deposition on levitated particles.