AVS 45th International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Division Wednesday Sessions
       Session PS-WeA

Paper PS-WeA6
Reactive Ion Etching of Si by Cl, Cl@sub 2@, and Ar Ions: Molecular Dynamics Simulations with Comparisons to Experiment

Wednesday, November 4, 1998, 3:40 pm, Room 318/319/320

Session: Plasma-Surface Interactions I
Presenter: D.E. Hanson, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Authors: D.E. Hanson, Los Alamos National Laboratory
J.D. Kress, Los Alamos National Laboratory
A.F. Voter, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
We will present results of molecular dynamics simulations of reactive ion etching (RIE) of a reconstructed Si(100)(2x1) surface. The existing Stillinger-Weber Si/Cl interatomic potential has been modified by correcting the Si-Si bond strength for a SiClx moiety bound to a Si surface as a function of the number of Cl atoms, x. This potential has been used to study RIE of Si by Cl, Cl@sub 2@ and Ar ions to characterize the Si yield, product stoichiometry, and the stoichiometry of the chlorosilyl surface layer as a function of ion energy and species. Such results, suitably parameterized, can be used as fundamental input to device feature scale topography simulations. We have also simulated the dissociative chemisorption of Cl@sub 2@ on Si(100)(2x1) and find that it is in reasonable agreement with experiment. We will discuss an important area of disagreement between theory and experiment, the effect of neutral to ion ratio on the Si yield. Where possible, we will present comparisons of our results with experiment. @FootnoteText@ Work partially supported by Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between the US Department of Energy and the Semiconductor Research Corporation.