Consequences of photon beam excitation in an inductively coupled plasma

Conference · Thu Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1998

OSTI ID:346899

Keiter, E R; Kushner, M J ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Plasma enhanced deposition and etching processes have been common in the semiconductor industry for some time. Generally the chemical systems are complex and consist of many different neutral and ionic species, only a subset of which are desired. Establishing process control is sometimes difficult, as changing most system parameters will not be selective in terms of which species they affect It may also be difficult to simultaneously optimize all process variables. In this paper, the authors present results from a numerical study of an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) system which is excited by a photon beam. The Hybrid Plasma Equipment Model (HPEM), modified to include the Monte Carlo Photon Beam (MCPB) module, is the simulation tool used in the study. The MCPB models the injection and propagation of a photon beam through a plasma processing reactor using a Monte Carlo simulation. Photon absorption in the plasma is described using a variable particle weighting method. Multiple photon species are allowed, and photon absorption cross sections for photolysis and ionization are input through a parser. Source rates for charged and neutral species, which result from photon absorption, are generated by the MCPB and used by the fluid module of the HPEM. They will present the results of a parametric study of the effects of an auxiliary photon source on species densities and plasma potential for a Cl{sub 2} etching plasma.

• OSTI ID: 346899
• Report Number(s): CONF-980601--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
42 ENGINEERING
CHEMICAL REACTORS
ETCHING
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
PHOTON BEAMS
PLASMA PRODUCTION
PLASMA SIMULATION
PROCESS CONTROL
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS