Uniformity of 500-mm cylindrical plasma source sustained with multiple low-inductance antenna units

Setsuhara, Yuichi; Tsukiyama, Daisuke; Takenaka, Kosuke

doi:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2008.06.136

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…To better describe the degree of the plasma uniformity, a plasma non-uniformity factor μ is defined as the following expression [36,44] where n e,max , n e,min and n e,mean respectively represent the maximum, minimum, and mean values of the plasma density in the region from the reactor center (r=0 cm) to the radial position (r=18 cm). The region is selected a bit smaller than the electrode radius because the plasma density at the radial edge is influenced by the geometry of the electrode.…”

Section: Methods Of Improving the Plasma Uniformitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental investigation of the electromagnetic effect and improvement of the plasma radial uniformity in a large-area, very-high frequency capacitive argon discharge

Han

Zhao

et al. 2021

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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We performed an experimental investigation on the electromagnetic effect and the plasma radial uniformity in a larger-area, cylindrical capacitively coupled plasma reactor. By utilizing a floating hairpin probe, dependences of the plasma radial density on the driving frequency and the radio-frequency power over a wide pressure range of 5–40 Pa were presented. At a relatively low frequency (LF, e.g. 27 MHz), an evident peak generally appears near the electrode edge for all pressures investigated here due to the edge field effect, while at a very high frequency (VHF, e.g. 60 or 100 MHz), the plasma density shows a sharp peak at the discharge center at lower pressures, indicating a strong standing wave effect. As the RF power increases, the center-peak structure of plasma density becomes more evident. With increasing the pressure, the standing wave effect is gradually overwhelmed by the ‘stop band’ effect, resulting in a transition in the plasma density profile from a central peak to an edge peak. To improve the plasma radial uniformity, a LF source is introduced into the VHF plasma by balancing the standing wave effect with the edge effect. A much better plasma uniformity can be obtained if one chooses appropriate LF powers, pressures and other corresponding discharge parameters.

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Section: Methods Of Improving the Plasma Uniformitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental investigation of the electromagnetic effect and improvement of the plasma radial uniformity in a large-area, very-high frequency capacitive argon discharge

Han

Zhao

et al. 2021

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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“…This phenomenon will become more severe under the condition of higher input power and higher gas pressure [13]. To solve the problem, researchers had done a lot of work, and numerous articles had been published experimentally in the past decades [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Bang et al [20] designed a dual-frequency ICP configuration by installing 13.56 MHz and 400 kHz antenna at the center and edge of the chamber, and measured the radial distribution of plasma density.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the experiment of Kim et al [22], they installed an additional cylindrical ICP source at the center of the ferrite enhanced ICPs, and found that the uniform plasma density distributions were achieved through a simultaneous discharge of the cylindrical ICP and the ferrite enhanced ICPs (cylindrical ICP+Ferrite ICPs). Besides, Setsuhara and Takenaka et al [23,28] adopted multiple low-inductance antenna units to sustain the discharge in a 500 mm cylindrical plasma source. Other methods about innovation of discharge device in cylindrical ICP can also be found everywhere [24][25][26][27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma characteristics of direct current enhanced cylindrical inductively coupled plasma source

Hua¹,

Song²,

Hao³

et al. 2018

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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Experimental results of a direct current enhanced inductively coupled plasma (DCE-ICP) source which consists of a typical cylindrical ICP source and a plate-to-grid DC electrode are reported. With the use of this new source, the plasma characteristic parameters, namely, electron density, electron temperature and plasma uniformity, are measured by Langmuir floating double probe. It is found that DC discharge enhances the electron density and decreases the electron temperature, dramatically. Moreover, the plasma uniformity is obviously improved with the operation of DC and radio frequency (RF) hybrid discharge. Furthermore, the nonlinear enhancement effect of electron density with DC+RF hybrid discharge is confirmed. The presented observation indicates that the DCE-ICP source provides an effective method to obtain high-density uniform plasma, which is desirable for practical industrial applications.

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“…[52] As shown in Figure 13, the plasma non-uniformity decreases obviously from 69.1 to 47.4% in the case of a fixed HF power of 835.2 W and varying the LF power from 0 to 2001.4 W. The improvement of plasma uniformity by using a DF discharge can be attributed to the combined effects of non-uniformly distributed neutral gas density resulting from gas heating and the superimposed electric field effects of HF + LF in the plasma boundary. [52] As shown in Figure 13, the plasma non-uniformity decreases obviously from 69.1 to 47.4% in the case of a fixed HF power of 835.2 W and varying the LF power from 0 to 2001.4 W. The improvement of plasma uniformity by using a DF discharge can be attributed to the combined effects of non-uniformly distributed neutral gas density resulting from gas heating and the superimposed electric field effects of HF + LF in the plasma boundary.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to confirm the effect of the LF discharge on plasma uniformity, the plasma non-uniformity degree is defined as = (n max − n min )/(n max + n min ) × 100%, where n max and n min represent the maximum and minimum values of the plasma density in the evaluation area, respectively. [52] As shown in Figure 13, the plasma non-uniformity decreases obviously from 69.1 to 47.4% in the case of a fixed HF power of 835.2 W and varying the LF power from 0 to 2001.4 W. The improvement of plasma uniformity by using a DF discharge can be attributed to the combined effects of non-uniformly distributed neutral gas density resulting from gas heating and the superimposed electric field effects of HF + LF in the plasma boundary. Gas heating is an important issue in the analysis of plasma behaviour, especially for high-power RF discharges, and it has been studied elsewhere.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of a dual‐radio‐frequency cylindrical inductively coupled plasma

Hua

Song

Hao

et al. 2019

Contributions to Plasma Physics

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The plasma parameters such as electron density, effective electron temperature, plasma potential, and uniformity are investigated in a new dual-frequency cylindrical inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source operating at two frequencies (2 and 13.56 MHz) and two antennas (a two-turn high-frequency antenna and a six-turn low-frequency (LF) antenna). It is found that the electron density increases with 2 MHz power, whereas the electron temperature and plasma potential decrease with 2 MHz power at a fixed 13.56 MHz power. Moreover, the plasma uniformity can be improved by adjusting the LF power. These results indicate that a dual-frequency synergistic discharge in a cylindrical ICP can produce a high-density, low-potential, low-effective-electron-temperature, and uniform plasma. KEYWORDScylindrical inductively coupled plasma source, dual-frequency discharge INTRODUCTIONPlasma source development has been one of the major research activities in the low-temperature plasma community because of the increasingly challenging demands for plasma processing. [1][2][3] Various plasma sources, e.g. inductively coupled plasma (ICP) sources, [4][5][6][7] capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) sources, [8,9] electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) sources, [10] and microwave plasma sources, [11] are being extensively investigated by many researchers. Among these plasma sources, ICP sources as a potential candidate for large-area fabrication have attracted a great amount of attention because of their desirable advantages such as a relatively higher plasma density, low electron temperature, low operating gas pressure, and reduced ion damage to the substrate, as well as the possibility of independent control of ion energies and ion fluxes by using a dual-frequency (DF) discharge. [4][5][6][7]12] During plasma processing, desirable plasma characteristics, such as a high plasma density, low electron temperature and plasma potential, and good plasma uniformity are of great importance. Typical examples arise in the etching and deposition processes of semiconductor manufacturing, in which a high plasma density is helpful for achieving high processing rates and production throughput of active particles, whereas a lower electron temperature and plasma potential can avoid electrical and physical damage to the substrate. [13] Moreover, the wafer quality depends critically on plasma uniformity.In order to optimize the plasma characteristics of an ICP source, various methods including changing the antenna shape, [14,15] employing multiple low-inductance antennas, [16] enhancing the discharge by a ferromagnetic core , [3,17,18] and using a DF dual-antenna discharge [6,7,13,[19][20][21] have been proposed. Among these methods, DF technology appears particularly promising. About a decade ago, DF discharge technology operating with two power supplies of differing frequencies began to be used in CCP sources for etching dielectric thin films. The high-frequency (HF) source tends to have more influence on the plasma density and hence ion flux to the electrode, wh...

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Uniformity of 500-mm cylindrical plasma source sustained with multiple low-inductance antenna units

Cited by 5 publications

References 18 publications

Experimental investigation of the electromagnetic effect and improvement of the plasma radial uniformity in a large-area, very-high frequency capacitive argon discharge

Experimental investigation of the electromagnetic effect and improvement of the plasma radial uniformity in a large-area, very-high frequency capacitive argon discharge

Plasma characteristics of direct current enhanced cylindrical inductively coupled plasma source

Characteristics of a dual‐radio‐frequency cylindrical inductively coupled plasma

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