Diagnosis for advanced plasma control of materials processing

Abstract

Large-diameter high-density plasmas such as electron-cyclotron-resonance (ECR), helicon wave, inductively coupled, and surface-wave plasmas are currently being developed for plasma-assisted thin-film processes in the next generation. Actual applications of such high-density plasmas require a deeper understanding of discharge physics as well as advanced techniques for plasma control. In this paper, new findings on antenna-plasma couplings are reported. One is resonant directional excitation of helicon waves and a mechanism of density jump in a helicon RF discharge. The other is the identification of long-wavelength surfacewave modes with observation of the short-wavelength mode in a planar microwave discharge. In addition, comprehensive diagnostics of a pulsed inductively coupled plasma in chlorine is presented, which explains the pronounced effect of pulsed power discharges on charge-up suppression.

Nonlinear electromagnetic fields in 0.5 MHz inductively coupled plasmas

“…Thus, the nonlinear second-harmonic terms appear as a result of nonlinear interactions between the linear azimuthal current j 1 with the linear magnetic fields B r1 and B z1 . This interaction leads to pronounced generation of the poloidal second harmonic rf currents that in turn self-consistently generate the nonlinear magnetic field at the second Fourier harmonics B 2 2 detected in our experiments.…”

“…1 Recently, the ICPs have proved instrumental in various nanoscale processes, including but not limited to, nanostructuring surfaces and interfaces, growth of nanoscaled objects with various organizations and architectures, such as nanoparticles, nanorods, nanotubes, and several others. 2 One of the most common ICP-generating discharge configurations includes an external flat spiral ͑commonly known as a ''pancake''͒ inductive coil placed externally to a dielectric-sealed metal vacuum chamber and delivering rf power to the plasma being created.…”

Travelling-wave-sustained discharges

“…The application-orientated research on TWSDs led to introducing changes of the shape of the discharge vessels aiming at reaching large area discharge production [166,167] as well as to inventing new types of launchers for planar discharges [168][169][170][171][172][173][174][175][176][177][178][179][180][181][182][183] and short tubular discharges [184][185][186][187][188][189][190][191][192] and also new launchers for discharge production in the microwave range [193]. Many possibilities for the use of TWSDs for surface processing and film deposition [12,149,[194][195][196][197][198][199][200][201][202][203][204][205][206][207][208][209]…”

Nonlinear Dynamics of the Dust Grain Charge and Dust Acoustic Waves in a Plasma with an Ion Beam

“…As possible examples, nonlinear dust acoustic waves are present in dusty plasmas, which have been observed in laboratory plasmas (Selwyn et al . 1990;Sugai et al . 1997).…”