2D fluid model analysis for the effect of 3D gas flow on a capacitively coupled plasma deposition reactor

Abstract

The wide applicability of capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) deposition has increased the interest in developing comprehensive numerical models, but CCP imposes a tremendous computational cost when conducting a transient analysis in a three-dimensional (3D) model which reflects the real geometry of reactors. In particular, the detailed flow features of reactive gases induced by 3D geometric effects need to be considered for the precise calculation of radical distribution of reactive species. Thus, an alternative inclusive method for the numerical simulation of CCP deposition is proposed to simulate a two-dimensional (2D) CCP model based on the 3D gas flow results by simulating flow, temperature, and species fields in a 3D space at first without calculating the plasma chemistry. A numerical study of a cylindrical showerhead-electrode CCP reactor was conducted for particular cases of SiH 4 /NH 3 /N 2 /He gas mixture to deposit a hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiN x H y ) film. The proposed methodology produces numerical results for a 300 mm wafer deposition reactor which agree very well with the deposition rate profile measured experimentally along the wafer radius.

Computational study on silicon oxide plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process using tetraethoxysilane/oxygen/argon/ helium

“…I, resulting in a densely populated region where is high and correspondingly reaction rate is large. Similar phenomenon was also observed in other literature [34]. Figure 10 shows the normalized deposition rate versus wafer radius, and the number densities of O, O2 + and SiO as well.…”

Transition characteristics of low-pressure discharges in a hollow cathode

“…f ðeÞ is the assumed electron energy distribution function (EEDF). 25,26 The mean electron energy transport equation is as follows:…”

“…where n e is the mean electron energy density, C e is the mean electron energy flux, and S e is the mean electron energy source term. 25,26 The mean electron energy flux is expressed as…”

Progress and prospects in nanoscale dry processes: How can we control atomic layer reactions?

“…143,144) Kim and Lee analyzed the effects of electrode spacing and a 3D gas flow from a shower head for a SiH 4 =NH 3 =H 2 =He discharge. 143,144) For PECVD discharges, PIC simulations are computationally expensive because of the relatively high gas pressure of Torr order and high plasma density. Recently, Lee et al demonstrated an approach to PIC simulation for CCP deposition with the advantage of decreased computational time through parallelization using graphic processing units (GPUs).…”