Spatial symmetry breaking in single-frequency CCP discharge with transverse magnetic field

Sharma, Sarveshwar; Kaganovich, Igor; Khrabrov, Alexander V.; Kaw, P. K.; Sen, Abhijit

doi:10.1063/1.5033350

Cited by 29 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…The monotonic increase beyond r = 3.5 can be ascribed to the increase in electron confinement due to the high magnetic field. This is consistent with previous studies on magnetically enhanced CCPs using higher magnetic fields [46]. The surprising result is the peak at r = 1 whose origin we will shortly discuss.…”

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confidence: 92%

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An enhanced operating regime for high frequency capacitive discharges

Patil,

Sharma,

Sengupta

et al. 2020

Preprint

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We report the existence of an enhanced operating regime for a high-frequency, low-pressure capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) discharge in the presence of a weak magnetic field applied parallel to the electrodes. Our PIC-MCC simulations show that the plasma density and ion flux values exhibit a sharp peak when the electron cyclotron frequency equals half of the applied RF frequency. The physical mechanism responsible for this behaviour is traced to a synchronization between the oscillatory motion of the electrode sheath edge and the motion of a set of electrons reflected by this sheath. These electrons gain a substantial amount of energy that causes a concomitant higher ionisation leading to a peak in the ion flux. Our theoretical findings should be easy to verify experimentally in present day CCP devices and could provide useful guidelines for enhancing the operational performance of CCP devices in industrial applications.

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confidence: 92%

“…Our simulations of a plasma bounded by two parallel electrodes have been carried out with the well-tested and widely used 1D-3V Electrostatic Direct Implicit Particle-In-Cell (EDIPIC) code [46][47][48][49][50][51]. The code is based on the well-established Particle-in-Cell/Monte Carlo Collision (PIC-MCC) method [52,53].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

An enhanced operating regime for high frequency capacitive discharges

Patil,

Sharma,

Sengupta

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

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show abstract

“…Additionally, in our simulations, the velocity of the charged particles is calculated in three dimensions, for which, the E × B drift is considered correctly. Actually, several investigations of such scenarios have been performed based on 1d3v PIC/MCC simulations before [17,24,40,61] and have provided a better understanding of magnetized CCP electropositive discharges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electron power absorption dynamics in magnetized capacitively coupled radio frequency oxygen discharges

Wang

Wen

Hartmann

et al. 2020

Plasma Sources Sci. Technol.

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The influence of a uniform magnetic field parallel to the electrodes on radio frequency capacitively coupled oxygen discharges driven at 13.56 MHz at a pressure of 100 mTorr is investigated by one-dimensional Particle-in-Cell/Monte Carlo collision (1D PIC/MCC) simulations. Increasing the magnetic field from 0 to 200 G is found to result in a drastic enhancement of the electron and the O + 2 ion density due to the enhanced confinement of electrons by the magnetic field. The time and space averaged O − ion density, however, is found to remain almost constant, since both the dissociative electron attachment (production channel of O − ) and the associative electron detachment rate due to the collisions of negative ions with oxygen metastables (main loss channel of O − ) are enhanced simultaneously. This is understood based on a detailed analysis of the spatio-temporal electron dynamics.The nearly constant O − density in conjunction with the increased electron density causes a significant reduction of the electronegativity and a pronounced change of the electron power absorption dynamics as a function of the externally applied magnetic field. While at low magnetic fields the discharge is operated in the electronegative Drift-Ambipolar (DA) mode, a transition to the electropositive α-mode is induced by increasing the magnetic field. Meanwhile, a strong electric field reversal is generated near each electrode during the local sheath collapse at high magnetic fields, which locally enhances the electron power absorption. A model of the electric field generation reveals that the reversed electric field is caused by the reduction of the electron flux to the electrodes due to their trapping by the magnetic field.The consequent changes of the plasma properties are expected to affect the applications of such discharges in etching, deposition and other semiconductor processes.

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“…[6] To improve the performance of the traditional capacitive sources, magnetically enhanced capacitively coupled radiofrequency (rf) plasma sources (MECCPs) have drawn much attention. [4,7] A transverse static magnetic field is usually applied oriented parallel to the electrodes with the goal of increasing the efficiency of power deposition to the plasma by enhancing plasma confinement. [8] Apart from the high plasma density, the heating mechanisms and electron dynamics also become distinct in magnetized rf plasmas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modulation of uniform magnetic field on electron dynamics in low‐pressure capacitively coupled plasmas

Guo

Sun

Zhang

et al. 2021

Plasma Processes & Polymers

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The electron dynamics in uniform magnetized capacitively coupled plasmas are investigated by using a one‐dimensional particle‐in‐cell simulation with a Monte Carlo collision model. It is found that the nonlinear dynamic behaviors of electrons are slightly modulated at weak magnetic fields, with more electron beams appearing during one sheath expansion. The electron beams are reversed before reaching the opposite electrode at moderate magnetic fields under the effect of Lorentz force. The discharge becomes very localized at very high magnetic fields, as the energetic electrons are confined in the vicinity of the sheath edge. The nonlocal to local transition of discharge characteristics is induced at different magnetic fields for various discharge frequencies. Generally, the discharge transition happens at stronger magnetic fields for high‐discharge frequencies. A quantitative relation between the discharge frequency and cyclotron frequency is given for the discharge transition.

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Spatial symmetry breaking in single-frequency CCP discharge with transverse magnetic field

Cited by 29 publications

References 53 publications

An enhanced operating regime for high frequency capacitive discharges

An enhanced operating regime for high frequency capacitive discharges

Electron power absorption dynamics in magnetized capacitively coupled radio frequency oxygen discharges

Modulation of uniform magnetic field on electron dynamics in low‐pressure capacitively coupled plasmas

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