A mathematical model of an inductively coupled radio-frequency discharge at low pressure as nonlinear partial eigenproblem

Inductively coupled plasmas at low driving frequencies

We discuss the peculiarities of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) at low driving frequencies. The ratio of electric to magnetic field, E cB , ∣ ( )∣ decreases with decreasing frequency according to Faraday’s law—higher magnetic fields are required to induce the same electric field at lower frequencies. We point out that the ratio of E cB ∣ ( )∣ can be non-uniform in space depending on primary co...

One-dimensional time-dependent fluid model of a very high density low-pressure inductively coupled plasma

Effects of radio frequency bias frequency and radio frequency bias pulsing on SiO2 feature etching in inductively coupled fluorocarbon plasmas

The effect of radio frequency ~rf! bias frequency on SiO2 feature etching using inductively coupled fluorocarbon plasmas is investigated. It is found that the rf bias frequency can have an important effect on SiO2 feature etch rate, microtrenching phenomena, and SiO2-to-photoresist etch selectivity. In addition, the effect of rf bias pulsing on inductively coupled fluorocarbon plasma SiO2 etchi...

Controlling VUV photon fluxes in low-pressure inductively coupled plasmas

Low-pressure (a few to hundreds of millitorrs) inductively coupled plasmas (ICPs), as typically used in microelectronics fabrication, often produce vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) photon fluxes onto surfaces comparable to or exceeding the magnitude of ion fluxes. These VUV photon fluxes are desirable in applications such as sterilization of medical equipment but are unwanted in many materials fabricat...

High-voltage nanosecond pulses in a low-pressure radio-frequency discharge.

An influence of a high-voltage (3-17 kV) 20 ns pulse on a weakly-ionized low-pressure (0.1-10 Pa) capacitively coupled radiofrequency (RF) argon plasma is studied experimentally. The plasma evolution after pulse exhibits two characteristic regimes: a bright flash, occurring within 100 ns after the pulse (when the discharge emission increases by 2-3 orders of magnitude over the steady-state leve...