Electron-beam-generated plasmas for materials processing

Walton, Scott G.; Muratore, Christopher; Leonhardt, D.; Fernsler, R. F.; Blackwell, David; Meger, R. A.

doi:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2004.04.007

Cited by 64 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…14 Also, unlike other plasma sources, species production rates are nearly directly proportional to the background gas concentrations 14 and can thus be easily adjusted; the total production rate can be changed by varying the beam current density. 15 Lastly and importantly for this work, the plasma electron temperature is inherently low, which provides a low plasma potential, and thus, low ion energy as they leave the plasma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of plasma‐polyethylene interactions using electron beam‐generated plasmas produced in Ar/SF₆ mixtures

Walton

Lock

et al. 2010

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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The use of electron beam-generated plasmas produced in Ar/SF 6 mixtures to modify the surface of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene substrates is discussed. Changes in the surface energy, chemistry, and morphology are presented as a function of plasma operating parameters, along with simple system diagnostics to obtain a better understanding of the plasmapolymer interaction. For all conditions, the hydrophobicity of the material was increased via the incorporation of fluorine, and for some conditions, the surface was found to remain stable over the course of 1 year.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of plasma‐polyethylene interactions using electron beam‐generated plasmas produced in Ar/SF₆ mixtures

Walton

Lock

et al. 2010

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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“…The ribbon electron beam was produced by a forevacuum plasma electron source [18]. The source was specially designed for ribbon beam generating while transmission without traditionally used [15,19,20] longitudinal magnetic field. The source represented a three-electrode system -hollow cathode 1, flat anode 2 and extractor 3 (Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The works [14,15] describe effective usage of plasma cathode electron sources for generating large-area beam plasma. Control of energy spectrum of plasma ion flow in the mentioned works was performed by putting negative bias on the target.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface treatment by the ion flow from electron beam generated plasma in the forevacuum pressure range

Климов

Зенин

2018

MATEC Web Conf.

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Abstract. The paper presents research results of peculiarities of gas ion flows usage and their generation from large plasma formation (>50 sq.cm) obtained by electron beam ionization of gas in the forevacuum pressure range. An upgraded source was used for electron beam generation, which allowed obtaining ribbon electron beam with no transmitting magnetic field. Absence of magnetic field in the area of ion flow formation enables to obtain directed ion flows without distorting their trajectories. In this case, independent control of current and ion energy is possible. The influence of electron beam parameters on the parameters of beam plasma and ion flow -current energy and density -was determined. The results of alumina ceramics treatment with a beam plasma ions flow are given.

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“…Figure 8 shows the relative flux of ions at an electrode located various distances from the beam axis. 32 In this case, the flux is normalized to the total flux of all ions, which decays according to the profile in Figure 7. Taken together, the results of Figures 7 and 8 show that it is possible to control both the total flux and importantly, the relative flux ratios (in this case, Ar + :N 2 + :N + ) by adjusting the beam-to-wafer standoff.…”

Section: Armentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both techniques have been applied to electron beam generated plasmas and examples are shown in Figures 13 and 14. Figure 13 shows the N + ion energy distributions measured at a ground stage while biasing the beam dump, 32 an alternative approach 52 that effectively elevates the plasma potential to produce a sheath drop at the surface whose magnitude is equivalent to negatively biasing the electrode. The majority of the incoming ions impact the electrode with energies slightly above the bias value (and thus comparable to the plasma potential in the absence of an applied bias), suggesting that N + ions suffer few collisions while crossing the sheath.…”

Section: Controlling the Ion Energy At Surfacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electron Beam Generated Plasmas for Ultra Low T_eProcessing

Walton

Boris

Hernández

et al. 2015

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has developed a processing system based on an electron beam-generated plasma. Unlike conventional discharges produced by electric fields (DC, RF, microwave, etc.), ionization is driven by a high-energy (∼ few keV) electron beam, an approach that can be attractive to atomic layer processing applications. In particular, high electron densities (10 10 -10 11 cm −3 ) can be produced in electron beam generated plasmas, where the electron temperature remains between 0.3 and 1.0 eV. Accordingly, a large flux of ions can be delivered to substrate surfaces with kinetic energies in the range of 1 to 5 eV. This provides the potential for controllably etching and/or engineering both the surface morphology and chemistry with monolayer precision. This work describes the electron beam driven plasma processing system, with particular attention paid to system characteristics and the ability to control the generation and delivery of ions to the surface and their energies. Electron beam generated plasmas are produced by injecting a highenergy electron beam into a gas background, which will ionize, dissociate, and excite atoms or molecules as it traverses the gas volume. While the basic inelastic processes that lead to species production are the same as those in discharge plasmas, the use of energetic electron beams to drive production results in plasmas that have very different properties than conventional discharges. Some of these properties are attractive for plasma-based atomic layer processing applications where, whether etching, depositing, or chemically modifying materials, fine control over the flux and energy of ions is needed. In the case of atomic layer etching, perhaps the single most important need is to tightly control the kinetic energy of ions incident to the processing surface so as to avoid damage while maintaining a reasonable etch rate. [1][2][3] In this regard, a significant advantage of beam-driven plasmas is the inherently low electron temperature T e , which is typically a fraction of an eV in most gas mixtures of technological interest. Importantly, this is true regardless of the plasma density. Thus, one can produce a large fluence of reactive ion and neutral species where the kinetic energy of the ions is as low as a few eV.The interest in electron beam generated plasmas for materials processing can be traced back at least 4 decades. In the early 1970s Bunshah 4 described an electron beam vapor deposition system that utilizes an electron beam to both vaporize the metal and "activate" the background gas. It was also noted by Dugdale 5 that high-energy electron beam systems developed for welding could be employed for "soft vacuum vapor deposition" in a manner similar to that of Bunshah. In the 1980s, Collins and co-workers at Colorado State University, developed electron beam produced plasmas for plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of SiO 2 . 6,7 This system used a sheet-like beam of multi-keV electrons injected parallel to the growth substrate. A similar configurat...

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Electron-beam-generated plasmas for materials processing

Cited by 64 publications

References 13 publications

Study of plasma‐polyethylene interactions using electron beam‐generated plasmas produced in Ar/SF₆ mixtures

Study of plasma‐polyethylene interactions using electron beam‐generated plasmas produced in Ar/SF₆ mixtures

Surface treatment by the ion flow from electron beam generated plasma in the forevacuum pressure range

Electron Beam Generated Plasmas for Ultra Low T_eProcessing

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Electron-beam-generated plasmas for materials processing

Cited by 64 publications

References 13 publications

Study of plasma‐polyethylene interactions using electron beam‐generated plasmas produced in Ar/SF6 mixtures

Study of plasma‐polyethylene interactions using electron beam‐generated plasmas produced in Ar/SF6 mixtures

Surface treatment by the ion flow from electron beam generated plasma in the forevacuum pressure range

Electron Beam Generated Plasmas for Ultra Low TeProcessing

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Product

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About

Study of plasma‐polyethylene interactions using electron beam‐generated plasmas produced in Ar/SF₆ mixtures

Study of plasma‐polyethylene interactions using electron beam‐generated plasmas produced in Ar/SF₆ mixtures

Electron Beam Generated Plasmas for Ultra Low T_eProcessing