AVS 59th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition
    Plasma Science and Technology Thursday Sessions
       Session PS-ThP

Paper PS-ThP3
Advances in 2D/3D Feature Profile Simulations

Thursday, November 1, 2012, 6:00 pm, Room Central Hall

Session: Plasma Science and Technology Poster Session
Presenter: P. Moroz, Tokyo Electron US Holdings Ltd
Correspondent: Click to Email
Plasma etching, deposition, and implantation are widely used in semiconductor industry, with application of complex chemistries and plasmas to obtain desirable profiles and material properties. However, in practice, etched profiles might show undesirable effects such as bowing, or necking, or micro-trenching, among others, as well as might demonstrate the so-called loading effect. Those effects become more concerning or even dangerous for features of smaller sizes, especially for high aspect ratio etching of trenches and contact holes where they could lead to defects of the device. Selecting proper gas mixtures as well as the regimes of plasma operation to obtain proper profiles is a very tedious process, and numerical simulation could become a highly needed and useful tool. Here we discuss new capabilities and unique characteristics of the 2D/3D feature profile simulator FPS-3D [1-2]. The FPS-3D simulator was developed as a general type simulator, in principle, applicable to any materials, reactive gases, plasmas, or beams, for which the user could provide proper reaction mechanisms. FPS-3D can simulate etching, deposition, or implantation processes going on at the same time. Among new developments to be presented is the capability of considering multi-step (or multi-recipe) processes, when each step could have different fluxes to the surface and different chemistry. Another new development in FPS-3D is the possibility of simulating the pulse-plasma effects. Examples presented are mainly based around a particular case of HARC etching of SiO2 by the fluorocarbon-argon-oxygen plasma in a capacitive-type plasma system. [1] P. Moroz, ECS Transactions, 35 (20) 25 (2011).[2] P. Moroz, IEEE Transactions of Plasma Science, 39 (11) 2804 (2011).