A capacitive probe with shaped probe bias for ion flux measurements in depositing plasmas

Bronneberg, A C; Sarkar, Arnab; Blauw, M. A.; Creatore, M.; Sanden, M.C.M. van de

doi:10.1063/1.3020709

Cited by 10 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…30,31 A capacitive probe, built in the substrate holder, is used to measure the ion flux (C ion ). The working principle of the capacitive probe has been described in detail by Petcu et al 45,46 Basically, the ion flux is determined from the voltage drop across an external capacitor (C ¼ 1.5 nF):…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion-induced effects on grain boundaries and a-Si:H tissue quality in microcrystalline silicon films

Bronneberg

Cankoy

Sanden

et al. 2012

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

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Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of Record (includes final page, issue and volume numbers) Please check the document version of this publication:• A submitted manuscript is the author's version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website.• The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review.• The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Microcrystalline silicon films have been deposited by means of the remote expanding thermal plasma. The effect of ion bombardment on the microcrystalline silicon film properties has been investigated by applying an RF bias to the deposition substrate. The application of the RF substrate bias resulted in the formation of an additional plasma in front of the substrate holder. Neither the SiH 4 depletion nor the growth flux was significantly enhanced upon substrate biasing, which suggests that (the composition of) the growth precursor flux is unaffected and that the ion-film interaction mechanisms were responsible for the observed material changes. Moderate bias conditions (i.e., dc bias voltages up to $70 V) led to an improved grain boundary passivation and densification of the amorphous silicon tissue, as concluded from the analysis of the infrared Si-H x stretching modes. These improvements have been ascribed to ion-induced Si surface atom displacement, which enhances the surface diffusion length of the growth precursors. More-energetic ion bombardment (i.e., under applied dc bias voltages of $60 V and higher) resulted in enhanced (di)vacancy incorporation via ion-induced Si bulk atom displacement. The film crystallinity was found not to be affected by the ion bombardment, although a reduced crystallite size was observed under ion bombardment conditions where Si bulk displacement had been sufficiently activated. The extent of the ion-film interaction mechanism has been enhanced...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ion-induced effects on grain boundaries and a-Si:H tissue quality in microcrystalline silicon films

Bronneberg

Cankoy

Sanden

et al. 2012

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

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“…This is a second, although less stringent, requirement for a proper functionality of the ion probe. 77,78 Regardless, the bias voltage at the a-C:H surface cannot be measured directly and distortions of the applied pulse shape, therefore, cannot be completely excluded. The bias voltage as measured over the external capacitor is indicated in Fig.…”

Section: B Changes In A-c:h Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…a capacitive probe). 77,78 The design, operating procedure, and characterization of an ion probe is described in detail by Petcu et al 78 Our planar probe is embedded in a sample holder which provides a measurement directly at the position of the sample. The sample holder itself is electrically floating, whereas the collecting area (200 mm 2 ) is connected to a single external capacitor (12:7 6 0:1 nF).…”

Section: B Capacitive Probementioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 in Ref. 78) with a downward slope from À5 to À10 V (20 V peak to peak) is applied on this capacitor by means of a waveform generator (TTI TG4001). When the correct frequency is used, the bias voltage on the collecting area is constant (À14 V) during the downward slope.…”

Section: B Capacitive Probementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The measurement error with electrical probes is on the order of 10%-20%. 78 The atomic hydrogen flux (C H ) in Fig. 3 is estimated from the density and thermal velocity of atomic H, 79…”

Section: A Incident Ion and Radical Fluxmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Synergistic etch rates during low-energetic plasma etching of hydrogenated amorphous carbon

Hansen

Weber

Colsters

et al. 2012

Journal of Applied Physics

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The etch mechanisms of hydrogenated amorphous carbon thin films in low-energetic (<2 eV) high flux plasmas are investigated with spectroscopic ellipsometry. The results indicate a synergistic effect for the etch rate between argon ions and atomic hydrogen, even at these extremely low kinetic energies. Ion-assisted chemical sputtering is the primary etch mechanism in both Ar/H2 and pure H2 plasmas, although a contribution of swift chemical sputtering to the total etch rate is not excluded. Furthermore, ions determine to a large extent the surface morphology during plasma etching. A high influx of ions enhances the etch rate and limits the surface roughness, whereas a low ion flux promotes graphitization and leads to a large surface roughness (up to 60 nm).

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Direct ion flux measurements at high-pressure-depletion conditions for microcrystalline silicon deposition

Bronneberg

Kang

Palmans

et al. 2013

Journal of Applied Physics

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A capacitive probe with shaped probe bias for ion flux measurements in depositing plasmas

Cited by 10 publications

References 17 publications

Ion-induced effects on grain boundaries and a-Si:H tissue quality in microcrystalline silicon films

Ion-induced effects on grain boundaries and a-Si:H tissue quality in microcrystalline silicon films

Synergistic etch rates during low-energetic plasma etching of hydrogenated amorphous carbon

Direct ion flux measurements at high-pressure-depletion conditions for microcrystalline silicon deposition

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