A source of hyperthermal neutrals for materials processing
- Plasma Science and Technology Department, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, James Forrestal Campus, Princeton, New Jersey 08543 (United States)
In this letter, we describe a unique method of producing hyperthermal neutrals for material processing. The hyperthermal neutrals are produced by accelerating ions across a sheath from a plasma onto a surface. On impact, the ions are neutralized and reflected with {approximately}50{percent} of their incident energy. These neutrals then bounce off of additional surfaces prior to impacting the target. This unique multiple bounce system was developed for the following reasons: to reduce contamination from sputtered surface material, improve beam uniformity, and reduce UV radiation in the beam path. As a test of this method, we built a prototype beam source and used it to ash photoresist at rates up to 0.022 {mu}m/min. These rates are consistent with a predicted neutral beam flux, 2{times}10{sup 14}cm{sup {minus}2}s{sup {minus}1}. In addition, a simple model is used to indicate that this method is capable of producing economically acceptable ash rates. Comparisons with other neutral-beam production methods are made. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Institute of Physics.}
- Research Organization:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH03073
- OSTI ID:
- 565522
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 71, Issue 7; Other Information: PBD: Aug 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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