We present the effects of ion bombardment on ZnO nanowires caused by their exposure to an Ar inductively coupled plasma. The conductivity of the individual ZnO nanowire was increased in up to 3 orders of magnitude due to increase in both carrier concentration and mobility, with a substantial negative shift in the threshold gate voltage also being observed. The drastic changes in the electrical properties were attributed to the decrease in species adsorbed on the surface, as well as to the increase in oxygen vacancies near the surface caused by ion bombardment.

We measured electrical characteristics of transversely magnetized capacitively coupled plasma at low pressure (10 mTorr). From these measurements, we found that the power characteristics of the magnetized discharge were different from those of the unmagnetized discharge. As the magnetic field increases, a square dependence of power characteristic at high current changes to a linear dependence. This can be understood as a power dissipation mode transition by a magnetic field. A calculation from a simple sheath model agrees well with the experimental data.

In high-frequency inductively coupled argon discharges with a planar-type coil the phenomena of discharge mode transition (E–H mode transition) are investigated. Experimental observation is done at the low pressure of 10 mTorr and the high frequency of 19 MHz over a range of rf power, 40–525 W. First of all, the discharge mode transition is observed through a change of luminous intensity. This transition is found to occur at the relatively high power of about 280 W compared with the mode transition in a 6.5 MHz discharge. Also, some distinctive features are compared to low-frequency discharges during this transition. In particular, during the E–H mode transition the apparent changes of plasma potential are observed and the sudden variation of plasma potential is proposed as an important factor that indicates the change of power coupling. The features of the discharge mode transition in high-frequency discharge are discussed by considering the power coupling at each mode by measurements of the electron energy distribution functions.

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In this paper we investigate the effects of substrate bias voltage on plasma parameters in temperature control using a grid system in inductively coupled plasma. Electron temperature can be controlled from 2.5 eV to 0.5 eV at 1 mTorr Ar plasma using grid bias voltage, and the electron temperature is a strong function of substrate bias voltage. The main control parameter determining the electron temperature is the potential difference between grid-biased voltage and the plasma potential in the temperature controlled region (ΔφII,g). When substrate bias voltage is negative, plasma parameters do not vary with substrate bias voltage due to constant ΔφII,g

Synchronous pulse operation upon both source and bias RFs for inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching system, having both dynamic matching networks and RF frequency-sweeping to ensure the lowest RF reflected power, is introduced for the first time. A superior performance of synchronous pulse operation to conventional continuous wave (cw) as well as source pulse operations is confirmed through plasma diagnostics by using Langmuir probe, plasma simulation by using hybrid plasma equipment model (HPEM) and etching performance. Significant reduction of RF power reflection during pulse operation as well as improvement of 35 nm gate critical dimension (CD) uniformity for sub-50 nm dynamic random access memory (DRAM) are achieved by adapting synchronous pulse plasma etching technology. It is definitely expected that synchronous pulse plasma system would have a great ability from a perspective of robustness on fabrication site, excellent gate CD controllability and minimization of plasma induced damage (PID) related device performance degradation.

The electron energy distribution functions and plasma parameters in various gas mixture discharges (N2,O2,CF4/He,Ar,Xe) are measured. When He is mixed, the electron temperature increases but the electron density is almost constant. The electron temperature increases rapidly near a He mixing ratio of 1, but it is almost constant when the mixing ratio is small. In Ar mixture discharge, the electron temperature is almost constant; the electron density increases rapidly near a mixing ratio of 1, but increases slightly when the mixing ratio is small. Mixing Xe increases the electron density and decreases the electron temperature. The electron density varies in a similar way with that of the Ar mixing case. A simple two-ion-species global model is used to analyze the plasma parameter variations as a function of mixing ratio, and it agrees well with the experimental results.

The electron energy distribution functions and electron temperatures are measured in Ar/He and Ar/Xe inductively coupled plasma with various mixing ratios. The electron temperature does not change linearly with the mixing ratios; instead it increases abruptly near PHe/PAr+He=1 and decreases rapidly near PXe/PAr+Xe=0. A simple model using a two-ion-species fluid model is suggested to explain the electron temperature variations, and it agrees well with the experimental results.