AVS 56th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Plasma Science and Technology Tuesday Sessions
       Session PS-TuA

Invited Paper PS-TuA3
Energy Considerations in Plasma-Surface Interactions

Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 2:40 pm, Room A1

Session: Fundamentals of Plasma-Surface Interactions I
Presenter: M. Goeckner, University of Texas at Dallas
Authors: M. Goeckner, University of Texas at Dallas
C.T. Nelson, University of Texas at Dallas
SP. Sant, University of Texas at Dallas
E.A. Joseph, University of Texas at Dallas
B.S. Zhou, University of Texas at Dallas
L.J. Overzet, University of Texas at Dallas
Correspondent: Click to Email
Plasma processes have been used for close to four decades in the semiconductor industry and even longer in other fields. Because such process systems are complex, many individuals subdivided the complete system into three main subsystems, gas-phase chemistry, plasma physics and surface chemistry/physics. Using this methodology, considerable knowledge has been gained in fundamental processes found in the gas-phase chemistry and plasma physics. Despite numerous high quality studies, understanding the surface subsystem has proven to be challenging. In part this is due to the interactions of the three subsystems. In this paper we will examine a model of plasma-surface interactions which is based on surface-averaged quantum mechanical processes. Using the model we arrive at a general model describing both etch and deposition. We will show how energy considerations, such a local surface temperature, play major roles in such processes. We will examine in some detail the link between the model and experimental data obtained from fluorocarbon plasmas. This work is supported by a generous gift from Applied Materials.