Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation of electron heating effect in multiple hollow cathode trenches with curved boundary

Park, Heesung; Sakiyama, Yukinori; Lee, Hae June

doi:10.3389/fphy.2023.1137994

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 27 publications

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“…Such fundamental investigations have led to the development of distinct methods of controlling the electron energy distribution function such as accelerating electrons in a controlled way to penetrate deeply into high aspect ratio dielectric etch profiles to compensate positive surface charges inside such trenches that would otherwise cause profile distortion and etch stops [31,[51][52][53]. Multi-dimensional simulations have been used to study radial plasma non-uniformities and develop concepts for their prevention/compensation such as structured, graded conductivity and segmented electrodes [54][55][56][57]. Some of these concepts have been verified qualitatively based on experiments performed under different discharge conditions [58,59].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental validation of particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collisions simulations in low-pressure neon capacitively coupled plasmas

Park,

Horváth,

Derzsi

et al. 2023

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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Plasma simulations are powerful tools for understanding fundamental plasma science phenomena and for process optimization in applications. To ensure their quantitative accuracy, they must be validated against experiments. In this work, such an experimental validation is performed for a 1d3v particle-in-cell simulation complemented with the Monte Carlo treatment of collision processes of a capacitively coupled radio frequency plasma driven at 13.56 MHz and operated in neon gas. In a geometrically symmetric reactor the electron density in the discharge center and the spatio-temporal distribution of the electron impact excitation rate from the ground intothe Ne 2p1 state are measured by a microwave cutoff probe and phase resolved optical emission spectroscopy, respectively. The measurements are conducted for electrode gaps between 50 mm and 90 mm, neutral gas pressures between 20 mTorr and 50 mTorr, and peak-to-peak values of the driving voltage waveform between 250 V and 650 V. Simulations are performed under identical discharge conditions. In the simulations, various combinations of surface coefficients characterising the interactions of electrons and heavy particles with the anodized aluminium electrode surfaces are adopted. We find, that the simulations using a constant effective heavy particle induced secondary electron emission coefficient of 0.3 and a realistic electron-surface interaction model (which considers energy-dependent and material specific elastic and inelastic electron reflection, as well as the emission of true secondary electrons from the surface) yield results which are in good quantitative agreement with the experimental data.

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