A PLASMA CHEMISTRY MONTE CARLO MODEL FOR ION AND RADICAL FLUXES AND ENERGY DISTRIBUTIONS IN INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA ETCHING REACTORS

In the low pressure, high density, inductively coupled plasma etching reactors being currently developed, the fluxes and energy distributions due to ions and neutral radicals need to be examined. This information can be used to determine the etch rate, anisotropy, and uniformity over large wafers for a wide range of power, pressure, and substrate rf bias. This will allow further development towards faster processing and better yields. A Plasma Chemistry Monte Carlo model has been developed to theoretically examine etching for new reactor designs over their full range of input parameters. A companion 2 dimensional hybrid fluid-kinetics model produces spatially dependent sourcing of plasma species, time dependent electric fields, and advective flow velocities of the gas which are used by the Plasma Chemistry Monte Carlo model. The model follows the paths of ion and neutral radical pseudoparticles in the reactor. Statistics are collected at the reactor surfaces as well as within the gas. From these statistics, the fluxes, angular distributions, and energy distributions of the particles hitting the wafer can be determined. In the reactor, the spatial distribution of momentum flux, temperature, and density for all plasma species is also calculated