Characteristics of large-diameter plasma using a radial-line slot antenna

Abstract

Characteristics of the surface-wave plasma generated by a radial-line slot antenna (RLSA) have been studied by both direct plasma probe measurements and numerical simulations. Some unique characteristics have been found, including excellent critical radial plasma uniformity, low electron temperature under various pressure conditions, the main plasma generation area of RLSA being limited in the plasma surface, and few high-energy electrons existing in the wafer region. Numerical simulations are implemented to reveal the more essential difference in plasma generation between the RLSA and the other plasma sources, where the superiority of RLSA plasma has been confirmed. The features of high plasma uniformity and low electron temperature lead to free plasma damage in our associated etching process.

Effect of wave-mode conversion device on production of large-area rectangular overdense surface-wave plasmas at the gas pressure about 100 Pa

“…Thus, many researchers design the positions and number of slot antennas in order to ensure exciting the proper SW modes and further obtaining large-area even stable plasmas. 6,7,10,13 At the gas pressure of about 100 Pa, as shown in the present experiments, the wave energy absorbed by plasmas should be considered again. When the plasma density is in higher span ͑Ն10 18 m −3 ͒, the wavelength of SW will become almost constant, as shown in Fig.…”

“…Therefore, a possible way to control the discharge effectively is to utilize the plasmadielectric resonator, i.e., to apply the periodic slot antennas as the microwave energy excitation. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] However, the SWP sources designed with the special wave-mode conversion device are not clearly described at the discharge pressure of about 100 Pa. Furthermore, the effect of wave-mode conversion device on the production of large-area uniform stable overdense plasmas has not been proposed.…”

“…Therefore, the development and application researches of the large-scale overdense SWP have attracted the unprecedented attention and the current study focus on the spatial uniformity and the temporal stability in large area. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] To address the above concerns, a lot of planar-type SWP sources have been optimized. As for these sources, the uniformity of plasma below the dielectric slab is one of the most important factors.…”

High-power microwave discharge for producing large-area surface-wave plasmas

“…Therefore, SWP have been exhaustively investigated both theoretically and experimentally [1][2][3][4][5][6]. For example, M. Nagatsu et al [2] have yielded large-area surface-wave plasmas with an internally mounted planar cylindrical launcher, Y. Yasaka et al [7][8][9] have produced large-diameter uniformity plasma using multislotted planar antenna, and C. Tian et al [10] have studied characteristics of large-diameter plasma using a radial-line slot antenna. But most of the structure of chamber reported in the literature is circular cylinder; a rectangular cavity [11][12][13] is adopted in this article.…”

Post Plasma Oxidation Processed ALD Al2O3/Hf1-xZrxO2Thin Films on Ge Substrates: Reliability

“…4,[11][12][13] The SPA process provides high density plasma (∼10 12 cm −3 ) at low electron temperature (0.7∼1.5 eV) with a wide process window (7∼1000 Pa) to enable a low damage plasma process compared to conventional inductively coupled plasma (ICP) or electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma. 14 Recently, the use of slot-plane-antenna plasma oxidation (SPAO) has been studied for TiN/ZrO 2 /Al 2 O 3 /Ge MOS capacitors, where SPAO has been introduced in different stages (before Al 2 O 3 deposition, in between Al 2 O 3 and ZrO 2 deposition, and after the deposition of both Al 2 O 3 and ZrO 2 ) during the gate stack formation. 15 When SPAO was introduced after the deposition of both Al 2 O 3 and ZrO 2 , enhanced EOT downscaling with lower interface state den-sity, D it , behavior for the devices are reported.…”