This monograph presents an up to date perspective of gas discharge physics and its applications
to various industries. It starts from a comprehensive overview of the different types to
generate plasmas by DC discharges capacitive and inductive radiofrequency coupling helicon
waves including electron cyclotron resonance and ion beams. To compare these theories with
inert plasmas a fundamental description of plasma diagnostics is presented on the basis of
four prominent methods and extended to reactive plasmas.The second part extensively deals with
the interaction of these plasmas with surfaces in order to coat or to etch them with reactive
gases. Main topics are sputtering plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and reactive ion
etching. The difficulties which had to be overcome to reach the next technological node in the
semiconductor map are documented by a long row of microfeatures. These processes and
corresponding microscopic mechanisms are discussed in the final section of this part. In the
concluding third part various fundamental derivations are minutely extended which are required
for a deep understanding of the plasma processes. In retrospect the semiconductor industry has
triggered the development of new methods to excite plasmas. But it was now the industrial part
to operate these plasmas with reactive gases. As a result of this combined effort surface
modifications with plasmas are now in widespread use even in low-cost applications due to its
easy and convenient implantation as well as its favorable environmental impact.
