Comparison of plasma excitation, ionization, and energy influx in single and dual frequency capacitive discharges

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Argon (Ar) plasma characteristics in a single and dual-frequency (DF), capacitively coupled plasma processing system are compared for drive frequencies 13.56 MHz, 320 MHz and their mixture as dual frequencies (DF). We present frequency dependent changes that occur in discharges in terms of plasma parameters such as plasma density, electron temperature, electron energy distribution function, optical emission, gas temperature, and metastable Ar density in a pressure range of 10−150 mTorr. Additionally, this work also presents the formulation and characterization of energy fluxes from plasma to a substrate/probe during the plasma generation. By variation of the operating pressure and plasma excitation frequency, the different contributions originating from the kinetic energy, the recombination of charge carriers such as electrons and ions at the surface along with the contributions from the neutral and excited species are determined. Data reveals that Ar metastable density in low-frequency radio frequency (RF) plasma is not a strong function of operating pressure even though plasma ionization increases with pressure. However, in the case of high-frequency and DF, the excitation of Ar metastable decreases and ionization increases due to enhanced collisions and efficient electron-neutral momentum/energy transfer. Also, data reveals that energy flux in the low-frequency RF plasmas is very high compared to that of high-frequency and DF operations.