Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-03T23:41:55.270Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pecvd RF Discharge Models Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

Alan Garscadden
Alan Garscadden*
Affiliation:
Wright Research and Development Center Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, 45433
Get access

Abstract

This paper presents a concise and subjective summary of the rapid progress that has been made in the understanding of the essential features of RF discharges. The paper concentrates on introducing the important concepts used in modeling the rf discharge. The discharges have been modeled from several distinctly different approaches. These include circuit, beamdiffusion, plasma fluid or continuum, and particle kinetic models. The treatments have their usefulness depending on the application. The circuit models give easily parameterized results, power deposition, and phase angles between voltage and current, however, they do not describe the important plasma chemistry and the source terms for deposition and etching. The newer continuum models efficiently give self-consistent plasma parameters for higher pressure discharges but synergistic ion and neutral interactions with surfaces are difficult to include. The particle kinetic models can include many effects without approximations, however they need extensive data sets and long computer run times. The coupling of improved diagnostics and the different theories has resulted in a convergence of their conclusions. There are four distinct energy-gain mechanisms in the RF discharge : a bulk plasma excitation; electron beam excitation resulting from secondary emission from ion collisions with the electrodes; wave-riding acceleration on the sheath oscillation (collisional: Kushner); and a noncollisional plasma electron-sheath boundary interaction (Godyak). The relative contributions are sensitive functions of the gas mixture, pressure, frequency and RF voltage.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 165 , 1989 , 3
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Godyak, V. A., “Soviet RF Discharge Research”. Delphic Associates, Inc., Falls Church, VA. (1986)Google Scholar
2. Landau, L.D., Soy. Phys. JETP 10, 25 (1946)Google Scholar
3. Lieberman, M. A., IEEE Trans. Plasma Science, 12, 338 (1989)Google Scholar
4. Bletzinger, P., accepted for publication: J. Appl. Phys. (1990).Google Scholar
5. Townsend, J. S. and Gill, E. W. B., Phil. Mag., 26,. 290 (1938)Google Scholar
6. Margenau, H., Phys. Rev., 69, 508 (1946)Google Scholar
7. Brown, S. C., in Handbuch der Physik, 22, Springer-Verlag Heidelberg (1956)Google Scholar
8. Harries, W. L. and Von Engel, A., Proc. Roy. Soc., A222, 490 (1954)Google Scholar
9. Winkler, R., Capitelli, M., Dilonardo, M., Gorse, C. and Wilhelm, J., Plasma Chem. Plasma Proc., 6, 437 (1986)Google Scholar
10. Tonks, L. and Langmuir, I., Phys. Rev., 34, 876 (1929)Google Scholar
11. Sommerer, T.J., Hitchon, W.N.G. and Lawler, J.E., Phys Rev 39A, 6356, (1989) and refs therein.Google Scholar
12. Keller, J. M. and Pennebaker, W. B., IBM J. Res Develop., 23, 3 (1979)Google Scholar
13. Long, W. H. Jr., Northrop Research and Technology Center, Technical Report AFAPL-79-2038 (1979)Google Scholar
14. Boeuf, J-P and Belenguer, P., to appear in Non Equilibrium Processes in Partially Ionized Plasmas, NATO-ASI, Eds Capitelli, M. amd Bardsley, J.N., (1989).Google Scholar
15. Graves, D. B. and Jensen, K. F., IEEE Trans Plasma Sci., PS–14, 78 (1986).Google Scholar
16. Boeuf, J-P, Phys. Rev., A36, 2782 (1987).Google Scholar
17. Richards, A. D., Thompson, B. E. and Sawin, H. H., Appl. Phys. Lett 50, 492 (1988).Google Scholar
18. Barnes, M. S., Coffee, T. J., and Elta, M. E., J. Appl. Phys., 61, 81, (1987).Google Scholar
19. Segur, P., Yousfi, M., Boeuf, J. P., Marode, E., Davies, A. J. and Evans, J. G. in NATO-ASI 89A, 331 (1983).Google Scholar
20. Gogolides, E., Nicolai, J-P, and Sawin, H. H., J. Voac Sci. Tech. A7, 1001 (1989).Google Scholar
21. Surenda, M., Graves, D.B., and Morey, I. J., submitted to J. Appl. Phys (1989).Google Scholar
22. Kushner, M. J., IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., PS–14, 188 (1986).Google Scholar
23. Vallinga, P. M., PhD Thesis, Technical University of Eindoven, (1988).Google Scholar
24. Ernie, D. W. and Oskam, H. J., Studies of the Volume and Plasma Sheath Properties of Radio Frequency Discharges, AFWALTR-2103, (1988).Google Scholar
25. Armentrout, P., Unpublished results (1989).Google Scholar
26. Haller, I., J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A1, 1376 (1983).Google Scholar
27. Liu, J., Huppert, G. L. and Sawin, H. H., presented at the 41st Gaseous Electronics Conference, Minneapolis, MN (1988).Google Scholar