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Ion and neutral inertial effects in inductively coupled plasmas

Conference ·
OSTI ID:160764
;  [1]
  1. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Inductively coupled plasmas (ICPS) are currently being investigated as high plasma density, low gas pressure sources for semiconductor etching and deposition. Development of models for these devices has been challenging due to neutral and ion transport being in a transition regime between continuum and molecular flow. A 2-dimensional (r,z) hybrid model has previously been developed to study ICP sources. The simulation consists of an electromagnetic module, an electron Monte Carlo simulation, and a fluid-chemical kinetics simulation; and offline hydrodynamic and plasma chemistry Monte Carlo simulations. In the parameter space of interest, inertial effects, momentum transfer between advectively hot ions and neutrals, and jetting of input gases is expected to be important. In this work, the authors have improved upon the fluid chemical kinetics simulation by including ion and neutral momentum equations for all species. They will present results of a parametric study of inertial effects in moderate and low pressure ICP reactors sustained in Ar/Cl{sub 2} gas mixtures. Comparisons will be made with a drift diffusion formulation as a function of gas pressure and input flow rates. They will present ion and neutral density distributions, plasma potential, ion and neutral momentum fluxes and fluxes of radicals to the wafer.
OSTI ID:
160764
Report Number(s):
CONF-950612--; ISBN 0-7803-2669-5
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English