PLASMA PARAMETERS AND COMPOSITION IN CF4 + O2 + Ar AND CHF3 + O2 +Ar IN REACTIVE ION ETCHING PROCESSES

Abstract

The comparative analysis of both CF4+O2+Ar and CHF3+O2+Ar plasma systems under the typical conditions of reactive ion etching of silicon and silicon-based compounds was carried out. The data on internal plasma parameters, plasma chemistry as well as the steady-state plasma composition were obtained using a description of Langmuir probe diagnostics and 0-dimensional (global) plasma modeling. As a presented in the literature, both experimental and modeling procedures were carried out at constant total gas pressure, input power, bias power. The obtained results allowed one 1) to figure out the influence of oxygen on steady-state densities of plasma active species through the kinetics of both electron-impact and atom-molecular reactions; 2) to understand the features of fluorine atoms and fluorocarbon radicals kinetics which determine chemical activity and polymerization ability of plasmas in respect to treated surfaces; 3) to perform the model-bases analysis of heterogeneous process kinetics (etching, polymerization, polymer destruction) which determine the overall etching regime and output parameters. It was found that the substitution of argon for oxygen in both gas mixtures 1) results in monotonic increase in fluorine atom density; 2) is accompanied by decreasing polymerization ability of a gas phase and 3) causes the rapid (by about two orders of magnitude at ~ 20% О2) decrease in fluorocarbon polymer film thickness with the higher values for CHF3+O2+Ar system.