Nanotextured Silicon Surfaces Using Tailored Voltage Waveform Plasmas: Impact of Ion Bombardment Energy on Etching Dynamics and Passivation

Johnson, Erik; Poulain, G.; Bulkin, Pavel; Lebreton, Fabien; Drahi, Etienne; Fischer, Guillaume

doi:10.4229/eupvsec20172017-2av.2.33

Cited by 2 publications

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“…The shape of the waveform can be modified by changing the harmonics amplitude and their phases. In recent years, tailored waveforms played an important role in silicon etching [35,36] and thin film deposition [37,38]. More specifically, a novel type of temporally asymmetric waveform known as sawtooth waveform, which is the family of tailored waveform was introduced by Bruneau et al [39][40][41].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High frequency sheath modulation and higher harmonic generation in a low pressure very high frequency capacitively coupled plasma excited by sawtooth waveform

Sharma

Sirse

Turner

2020

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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A particle-in-cell simulation study is performed to investigate the discharge asymmetry, higher harmonic generations and electron heating mechanism in a low pressure capacitively coupled plasma excited by a saw-tooth like current waveform for different driving frequencies; 13.56 MHz, 27.12 MHz, and 54.24 MHz. Two current densities, 50 A m−2 and 100 A m−2 are chosen for a constant gas pressure of 5 mTorr in argon plasma. At a lower driving frequency, high frequency modulations on the instantaneous sheath electric field near to the grounded electrode are observed. These high frequency oscillations create multiple ionization beam like structures near to the sheath edge that drives the plasma density in the discharge and responsible for discharge/ionization asymmetry at lower driving frequency. Conversely, the electrode voltage shows higher harmonics generation at higher driving frequencies and corresponding electric field transients are observed into the bulk plasma. At lower driving frequency, the electron heating is maximum near to the sheath edge followed by electron cooling within plasma bulk, however, alternate heating and cooling i.e. burst like structures are obtained at higher driving frequencies. These results suggest that electron heating in these discharges will not be described accurately by simple analytical models.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High frequency sheath modulation and higher harmonic generation in a low pressure very high frequency capacitively coupled plasma excited by sawtooth waveform

Sharma

Sirse

Turner

2020

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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show abstract

“…This effect was attributed to the ionization asymmetry that produces more intense ionization on one of the electrodes compared to the other electrode. In processing applications, the use of tailored waveforms played an important role in thin film deposition [51,52] and silicon etching [53,54].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma asymmetry and electron and ion energy distribution function in capacitive discharges excited by tailored waveforms

Sharma¹,

Sirse²,

Kuley³

et al. 2022

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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Using particle-in-cell simulation technique, we investigate the plasma and ionization asymmetry, higher harmonics generation, electron and ion energy distribution function in capacitive discharges excited by tailored waveforms. At a base frequency of 13.56 MHz, three different waveforms namely, sinusoidal, saw-tooth, and square are applied for a constant current density amplitude of 50 A/m2 and gas pressure of 5 mTorr. The simulation results show that the square waveform produces highest plasma density in the discharge, whereas maximum asymmetry is observed for plasma excited by sawtooth like waveform. Both square and sawtooth waveforms generate multiple beams of high-energy electrons from near to the expanding phase of the sheath edge and high-frequency modulations up to 100 MHz on the instantaneous sheath position. The electron energy distribution function depicts 3 electron temperature and highly elevated tail-end electrons for the square waveform in comparison to the sinusoidal and sawtooth waveform. The ion energy distribution function is bimodal at both powered and grounded electrodes with a large asymmetry and narrow type distribution in the case of sawtooth like waveform. These results suggest that the choice of the waveform is highly critical for achieving maximum asymmetry and plasma density simultaneously in the discharge.

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Nanotextured Silicon Surfaces Using Tailored Voltage Waveform Plasmas: Impact of Ion Bombardment Energy on Etching Dynamics and Passivation

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

High frequency sheath modulation and higher harmonic generation in a low pressure very high frequency capacitively coupled plasma excited by sawtooth waveform

High frequency sheath modulation and higher harmonic generation in a low pressure very high frequency capacitively coupled plasma excited by sawtooth waveform

Plasma asymmetry and electron and ion energy distribution function in capacitive discharges excited by tailored waveforms

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