Improving plasma uniformity in the inductively coupled plasma by external magnetic field

Abstract

To enhance etching efficiency and uniformity in process production, in this work, a two-dimensional fluid model was used to study the modulation effect of an external magnetic field on the argon–oxygen inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The study found that as the magnetic coil current increases, the electron density changes from center-high to uniform to edge-high distribution. The best plasma uniformity degree is 94%, obtained at a magnetic coil current of 10 A, which represents a 39% improvement over the unmagnetized ICP. The electric field reversal occurs during the transition from weak magnetization to strong magnetization. The electron temperature shows a single-peak to dual-peak to single-peak distribution during this period. In addition, we also found that gas pressure and oxygen ratio also impact magnetized plasma, where the effect of gas pressure on magnetized plasma is more significant than that of oxygen ratio. The results show that introducing an external magnetic field can significantly improve the plasma density and radial uniformity. This finding has contributed to enhancing plasma etching uniformity and optimizing etching processes.