OES diagnostic of SF6/Ar gas mixture of ICP discharges for LiNbO3 etching

Abstract

The results of a study of the influence of technological parameters of the process of plasma chemical etching in inductively coupled plasma on the emission spectra of fluorine and argon atoms are presented. The effects of inductively coupled plasma RF power, operating pressure and bias voltage were studied for 6 different sulfur hexafluoride argon (SF6/Ar) gas mixtures: SF6 (1.5 sccm)/Ar (9.2 sccm), SF6 (7.8 sccm)/Ar (10.8 sccm), SF6 (4.7 sccm)/Ar (6.0 sccm), SF6 (7.0 sccm)/Ar (4.9 sccm), SF6 (11.7 sccm)/Ar (5.4 sccm), SF6 (9.4 sccm)/Ar (3.3 sccm). It is shown that a decrease in the operating pressure and an increase in the RF power of the inductively coupled plasma leads to an increase in the relative intensity of both argon and fluorine lines. Variations in the bias voltage have no significant effect on the emission intensity of the spectral lines of Ar and F.