Transport of dust particles in inductively coupled discharges
- Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Contamination by particulates, or ``dust``, in plasma processing reactors decreases the yield of microelectronic components. In low temperature plasmas, such as those used in etching or deposition reactors to fabricate semiconductor devices, the particles can form to appreciable densities. These particles can be trapped or expelled from the reactor, depending on which forces dominate their transport. Quantities that affect dust motion in Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) discharges are the charge of the dust particles (electrostatic forces), momentum transfer with ions (viscous ion-drag forces), temperature gradients from heated electrodes (thermophoretic forces), and gas flow (fluid drag forces). The authors have developed a 2-D Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the trajectories of dust particles in ICP reactors. The model may have an arbitrary number and variety of dust species, and different gas mixtures may be used. The self-consistent electric fields, ion energy distributions, and species densities are imported from a companion Monte Carlo-fluid hybrid model. A semi-analytic model is used to determine the dust charge as well as the momentum transfer cross sections between dust and ions. The electrode topography can also affect the trapping locations of dust. Grooves on the electrodes perturb electrical forces and heated washers can change the thermophoretic forces; hence the spatial dust density varies from the case with a smooth, nonheated electrode. These effects on particle trapping will be presented. Other factors on trapping locations, such as dust particle size and varying power flow with time, will also be discussed.
- OSTI ID:
- 63069
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940604--; ISBN 0-7803-2006-9
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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