Ion energy and angular distributions in inductively coupled Argon RF discharges

Technical Report · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/212756· OSTI ID:212756

Woodworth, J R; Riley, M E; Meister, D C ^[1]

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1. and others

We report measurements of the energies and angular distributions of positive ions in an inductively coupled argon plasma in a GEC reference cell. Use of two separate ion detectors allowed measurement of ion energies and fluxes as a function of position as well as ion angular distributions on the discharge centerline. The inductive drive on our system produced high plasma densities (up to 10{sup 12}/cm{sup 3} electron densities) and relatively stable plasma potentials. As a result, ion energy distributions typically consisted of a single feature well separated from zero energy. Mean ion energy was independent of rf power and varied inversely with pressure, decreasing from 29 eV to 12 eV as pressure increased form 2.4 m Torr to 50 mTorr. Half-widths of the ion angular distributions in these experiments varied from 5 degrees to 12.5 degrees, or equivalently, transverse temperatures varied form 0.2 to 0.5 eV with the distributions broadening as either pressure or RF power were increased.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 212756
• Report Number(s): SAND--96-0535; ON: DE96009170
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
66 PHYSICS
ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION
ARGON IONS
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
ETCHING
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
IONIZED GASES
PLASMA DENSITY