Low-energy electron scattering fromBCl3

Abstract

Despite the importance of ${\mathrm{BCl}}_{3}$ in plasmas used for commercial etching processes, no calculations or measurements of elastic low-energy electron scattering from ${\mathrm{BCl}}_{3}$ have previously appeared in the literature. We therefore present calculations based on the complex Kohn method for elastic electron-${\mathrm{BCl}}_{3}$ scattering at incident electron energies below 8 eV. We find a near-zero-energy virtual state and a sharp temporary negative-ion resonance at 0.25 eV, which likely contributes to the large electron attachment cross sections observed in swarm studies.