Tailored ion energy distributions on plasma electrodes
- Plasma Processing Laboratory, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204-4004 (United States)
As microelectronic device features continue to shrink approaching atomic dimensions, control of the ion energy distribution on the substrate during plasma etching and deposition becomes increasingly critical. The ion energy should be high enough to drive ion-assisted etching, but not too high to cause substrate damage or loss of selectivity. In many cases, a nearly monoenergetic ion energy distribution (IED) is desired to achieve highly selective etching. In this work, the author briefly reviews: (1) the fundamentals of development of the ion energy distribution in the sheath and (2) methods to control the IED on plasma electrodes. Such methods include the application of “tailored” voltage waveforms on an electrode in continuous wave plasmas, or the application of synchronous bias on a “boundary electrode” during a specified time window in the afterglow of pulsed plasmas.
- OSTI ID:
- 22224156
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films, Vol. 31, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2013 American Vacuum Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0734-2101
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Electric field reversals resulting from voltage waveform tailoring in Ar/O2 capacitively coupled plasmas sustained in asymmetric systems
Voltage waveform tailoring for high aspect ratio plasma etching of SiO2 using Ar/CF4/O2 mixtures: Consequences of ion and electron distributions on etch profiles