Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

A 3-dimensional model for inductively coupled plasma etching reactors: Coil generated plasma asymmetries

Conference ·
OSTI ID:423024
; ;  [1]
  1. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) reactors are being developed as high plasma density, low gas pressure sources for etching and deposition of semiconductor materials. In this paper, the authors describe a 3-dimensional, time dependent model for ICP reactors whose intent is to provide an infrastructure to investigate asymmetries in plasma etching and deposition tools. The model is a 3-dimensional extension of a previously described 2-dimensional simulation called the Hybrid Plasma Equipment Model (HPEM). HPEM-3D consists of an electromagnetics module (EMM), a Boltzmann-electron energy module (BEM) and a fluid-chemical kinetics simulation (FKS). The inductively coupled electromagnetic fields are produced by the EMM. Results from HPEM-3D will be discussed for reactors using etching (Cl{sub 2}, BCl{sub 3}) and non-etching (Ar, Ar/N{sub 2}) gas mixtures, and which have geometrical asymmetries such as wafer clamps and load-lock bays. The authors show how details in the design of the coil, such as the value of the termination capacitance or number of turns, lead to azimuthal variations in the inductive electric field.

Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation, Washington, DC (United States); Wisconsin Univ., Madison, WI (United States)
OSTI ID:
423024
Report Number(s):
CONF-960634--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Inductively coupled plasma etching of III{endash}V antimonides in BCl{sub 3}/Ar and Cl{sub 2}/Ar
Journal Article · Sat May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1999 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena · OSTI ID:345412

High-density plasma etching of compound semiconductors
Journal Article · Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1997 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, A · OSTI ID:508996

Comparative study of GaN mesa etch characteristics in Cl{sub 2} based inductively coupled plasma with Ar and BCl{sub 3} as additive gases
Journal Article · Thu May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films · OSTI ID:22258788