AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition
    Plasma Science and Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session PS-WeA

Paper PS-WeA12
Characterization of Hydrogen Recombination at the Wall and its Effect on Hydrogen Source Performance

Wednesday, November 12, 2014, 6:00 pm, Room 308

Session: Plasma Diagnostics, Sensors, and Control
Presenter: Shaun Smith, MKS Instruments, Inc.
Correspondent: Click to Email
There is ongoing interest in using remote plasma sources for on wafer processing with hydrogen radical based chemistries. Yet there has been limited availability of reliable measurements for recombination rates, as they pertain to semiconductor processing. Presented here are diagnostics and some insight to understating of how process responds to material choice or the surface condition of the plasma facing wall. The impact that surface recombination of radical species has on the discharge is discussed and the impact that surface material choice and condition has on source operation and process performance is examined. As well as a discussion of factors that can effect that recombination rate. These parameters are explored in the 1-10torr 1-5slm and 1-10kW regime

Atomic hydrogen recombination rate is measured for a range of materials. Toroidal plasma sources are then built with these materials as the plasma facing wall and are characterized for their discharge parameters and atomic hydrogen output. The discussion will include a description of the diagnostic tools used in this study; a comparison of modeled source discharge parameters running in Ar and H2 with experiment along with a brief comparison of the impact of volumetric and surface recombination of radical species is presented.

This work was specifically targeted for the use of radicals produced by a toroidal remote plasma sources for semiconductor applications but is generalizable to discharges in hydrogen independent of excitation or application.

Surface recombination of the hydrogen radical is shown to be a dominant mechanism in determining process parameters for semiconductor applications.