Spatial Distributions of Electron, CF, and CF2 Radical Densities and Gas Temperature in DC-Superposed Dual-Frequency Capacitively Coupled Plasma Etch Reactor Employing Cyclic-C4F8/N2/Ar Gas

Abstract

On a plasma etch reactor for a wafer of 300 mm in diameter, the spatial distributions of the absolute densities of CF and CF2 radicals, electron density (ne), and the gas temperature (Tg) of N2 were measured employing the dual frequency of negative dc voltage superposed to a very high frequency (VHF) of 60 MHz capacitively coupled plasma (DS-2f-CCP) with the cyclic- (c-)C4F8/Ar/N2 gas mixture. The dc bias was superposed on the upper electrode with a frequency of 60 MHz. The distributions of electron and radical densities were uniform within a diameter of about 260 mm, and took a monotonic decay in regions outside a diameter of 260 mm on the reactor for 300 mm wafers in the reactor. It was found that only CF2 density at the radial position between 150 and 180 mm, corresponding to the position of the Si focus ring, dropped, while CF density took a uniform distribution over a diameter of 260 mm. Additionally, at this position, the rotational temperature of N2 gas increased to be 100 K larger than that at the center position. CF2 radical density was markedly affected by the modified surface loss probability of the material owing to coupling with surface temperature.