Effects of amplitude modulated capacitively coupled discharge Ar plasma on kinetic energy and angular distribution function of ions impinging on electrodes: particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision model simulation

Abstract

We investigated the effects of amplitude modulated (AM) capacitively coupled Ar discharge plasma on the ion energy distribution function (IEDF) and the ion angular distribution function (IADF) incident on electrodes using the particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision model. For AM discharge, the electron density and electron temperature and the kinetic energy and angle of ions incident on the ground electrode change periodically with AM frequency, whereas ones for continuous wave discharge are almost constant. For AM discharge, the plasma had hysteresis characteristics. The peak energy of IEDF varies from 53 to 135 eV and the FWHM of IADF varies from 1.82 to 3.34 degrees for gas pressure 10mTorr, the peak-to-peak input voltage 400 V and AM level of 50%. The variation width of the peak energy of IEDF and FWHM of IADF increases with the AM level. These effects of AM method discharge are more noticeable at lower pressures. Thus, the AM discharge offers a way to control simultaneously IEDF and IADF, which opens a new avenue for plasma processes such as an ALD-like PECVD.