The role of dissociative attachment from Rydberg states in enhancing H concentration in moderate- and low-pressure H2 plasma sources

A numerical code, recently developed for describing the kinetics of H₂ microwave discharges obtained in diamond deposition plasma reactors, was used to estimate the importance of dissociative attachment from H₂ Rydberg states in enhancing the production of H⁻ in this kind of discharge. It was also used to investigate H⁻ production in multicusp low-pressure magnetic plasmas. Results show that the dissociative attachment from Rydberg states can be as important as the mechanism involving vibrationally excited molecules in both types of plasmas.