Measurement of electronegativity during the E to H mode transition in a radio frequency inductively coupled Ar/O_2 plasma

This paper presents the evolution of the electronegativity with the applied power during the E to H mode transition in a radio frequency(rf)inductively coupled plasma(ICP)in a mixture of Ar and O2.The densities of the negative ion and the electron,as well as their ratio,i.e.,the electronegativity,are measured as a function of the applied power by laser photo-detachment combined with a microwave resonance probe,under different pressures and O2 contents.Meanwhile,the optical emission intensities at Ar 750.4 nm and O 844.6 nm are monitored via a spectrograph.It was found that by increasing the applied power,the electron density and the optical emission intensity show a similar trench,i.e.,they increase abruptly at a threshold power,suggesting that the E to H mode transition occurs.With the increase of the pressure,the negative ion density presents opposite trends in the E-mode and the H-mode,which is related to the difference of the electron density and energy for the two modes.The emission intensities of Ar 750.4 nm and O 844.6 nm monotonously decrease with increasing the pressure or the O2 content,indicating that the density of high-energy electrons,which can excite atoms,is monotonically decreased.This leads to an increase of the negative ion density in the H-mode with increasing the pressure.Besides,as the applied power is increased,the electronegativity shows an abrupt drop during the E-to H-mode transition.     

Electronic dynamic behavior in inductively coupled plasmas with radio-frequency bias

The inflexion point of electron density and effective electron temperature curves versus radio-frequency （RF） bias voltage is observed in the H mode of inductively coupled plasmas （ICPs）. The electron energy probability function （EEPF） evolves first from a Maxwellian to a Druyvesteyn-like distribution, and then to a Maxwellian distribution again as the RF bias voltage increases. This can be explained by the interaction of two distinct bias-induced mechanisms, that is： bias- induced electron heating and bias-induced ion acceleration loss and the decrease of the effective discharge volume due to the sheath expansion. Furthermore, the trend of electron density is verified by a fluid model combined with a sheath module.     

Numerical study of the effect of gas flow in low pressure inductively coupled Ar/N<Subscript>2</Subscript> plasmas

The effect of gas flow in low pressure inductively coupled Ar/N₂ plasmas operating at the rf frequency of 13.56 MHz and the total gas pressure of 20 mTorr is studied at the gas flows of 5–700 sccm by coupling the plasma simulation with the calculation of flow dynamics. The gas temperature is 300 K and input power is 300 W. The Ar fractions are varied from 0% to 95%. The species taken into account include electrons, Ar atoms and their excited levels, N₂ molecules and their seven different excited levels, N atoms, and Ar⁺, N⁺, N₂ ⁺, N₄ ⁺ ions. 51 chemical reactions are considered. It is found that the electron densities increase and electron temperatures decrease with a rise in gas flow rate for the different Ar fractions. The densities of all the plasma species for the different Ar fractions and gas flow rates are obtained. The collisional power losses in plasma discharges are presented and the effect of gas flow is investigated.     

Measurement of neutral gas temperature in inductively coupled plasmas

Dependence of the neutral gas temperature on the gas pressure and discharge power in an inductively coupled plasma source has been investigated using optical emission spectroscopy. Both nitrogen and argon plasmas have been studied separately. In the case of argon plasma, about 5% nitrogen was added to the total gas flow as an actinometer. The maximum temperature was found to be as high as 1850 K at 1 Torr working pressure and 600 W radiofrequency power. The temperature increases almost linearly with the logarithm of the gas pressure, but changes only slightly with the discharge power in the range of 100–600 W. In a nitrogen plasma, a sudden increase in the neutral gas temperature occurs when the gas pressure is increased at a given discharge power. This suggests a discharge-mode transition from the H-mode (high plasma density) to the E-mode (low plasma density). In the H-mode, the gas temperature is proportional to the logarithm of the gas pressure, as in the argon plasma. However, the gas temperature increases almost linearly with the discharge power, which is in contrast to the case of argon plasma. The electron density in the nitrogen plasma is about 10% of that in the argon plasma. This may explain the observation that the nitrogen neutral temperature is always lower than the argon neutral temperature under the same discharge power and gas pressure.     

Dry etching characteristics of GaN using Cl2/BCl3 inductively coupled plasmas

ICP power/RF power, operating pressure, and Cl₂/BCl₃ gas mixing ratio are altered to investigate the effect of input process parameters on the etch characteristics of GaN films. The etch selectivity of GaN over SiO₂ and photoresist is studied. Although higher ICP/RF power can obtain higher GaN/photoresist etch selectivity, it can result in faceting of sidewall and weird sidewall profile due to photoresist mask erosion. Etch rates of GaN and SiO₂ decrease with the increase of operating pressure, and etch selectivity of GaN over SiO₂ increases with the increasing operating pressure at fixed ICP/RF power and mixture component. The highest etch selectivity of GaN over SiO₂ is 7.92, and an almost vertical etch profile having an etch rate of GaN close to 845.3 nm/min can be achieved. The surface morphology and root-mean-square roughness of the etched GaN under different etching conditions are evaluated by atomic force microscopy. The plasma-induced damage of GaN is analyzed using photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The optimized etching process, used for mesa formation during the LED fabrication, is presented. The periodic pattern can be transferred into GaN using a combination of Cl₂/BCl₃ plasma chemistry and hard mask SiO₂. Patterning of the sapphire substrate for fabricating LED with improved extraction efficiency is also possible using the same plasma chemistry.     

Measurements of argon metastable density using the tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy in Ar and Ar/O_2

Densities of Ar metastable states 1s_5 and 1s_3 are measured by using the tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy(TDLAS) in Ar and Ar/O2 mixture dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasma(DF-CCP). We investigate the effects of high-frequency(HF, 60 MHz) power, low-frequency(LF, 2 MHz) power, and working pressure on the density of Ar metastable states for three different gas components(0%, 5%, and 10% oxygen mixed in argon). The dependence of Ar metastable state density on the oxygen content is also studied at different working pressures. It is found that densities of Ar metastable states in discharges with different gas components exhibit different behaviors as HF power increases. With the increase of HF power, the metastable density increases rapidly at the initial stage, and then tends to be saturated at a higher HF power. With a small fraction(5% or 10%) of oxygen added in argon plasma, a similar change of the Ar metastable density with HF power can be observed, but the metastable density is saturated at a higher HF power than in the pure argon discharge. In the DF-CCP, the metastable density is found to be higher than in a single frequency discharge, and has weak dependence on LF power. As working pressure increases, the metastable state density first increases and then decreases,and the pressure value, at which the density maximum occurs, decreases with oxygen content increasing. Besides, adding a small fraction of oxygen into argon plasma will significantly dwindle the metastable state density as a result of quenching loss by oxygen molecules.     

DC discharge experiment in an Ar/N2/CO2 ternary mixture: A laboratory simulation of the Martian ionosphere's plasma environment

A low-pressure DC plasma discharge sustained in a 1.6%Ar–2.7%N₂–95.3%CO₂ ternary mixture is studied. This plasma was generated in a total pressure range from 1.0 to 4.0 Torr, a power of 6.3 W and a 12 l/min flow rate of gases. The electron temperature was found to be 8.41 eV and the ion density, in the order of 10⁹ cm⁻³. The species observed in the plasma mixture were CO₂, CO₂⁺, CN, CO, CO⁺, O₂, O₂⁺, N₂, N₂⁺, NO, C⁺, Ar and Ar⁺. At the pressure range in the present study, the species observed do not change their intensity due to an increase in the pressure and they separate in two groups according to their emission intensity: the band of the first group (CO₂, CO₂⁺ and CN) is approximately a factor of 3 more intense than that of the second group (CO, CO⁺, O₂, O₂⁺, N₂, N₂⁺, NO, C⁺, Ar and Ar⁺). The behavior of the emission intensities may be correlated to the constant ion density and electron temperature measured. Also, we observed the same constant behavior in the ratios of the neutral and positive species intensities to that of the N₂ intensity, as a function of pressure. This may suggest that the different rate coefficients and cross sections of elastic collision, excitation and de-excitation of electronic or vibrational levels, inelastic and superelastic collisions of electrons with the gas phase and products, neutral–neutral interactions, resonant charged transfer processes, recombination, to mention some, to produce these species change in the same proportion, as a function of the pressure to keep the relative ratios of the species almost constant.     

Comparison of excessive Balmer /spl alpha/ line broadening of inductively and capacitively coupled RF, microwave, and glow-discharge hydrogen plasmas with certain catalysts

From the width of the 656.3-nm Balmer /spl alpha/ line emitted from inductively and capacitively coupled radio frequency (RF), microwave, and glow-discharge plasmas, it was found that inductively coupled RF helium-hydrogen and argon-hydrogen plasmas showed extraordinary broadening corresponding to an average hydrogen atom energy of 250-310 and 180-230 eV, respectively, compared to 30-40 and 50-60 eV, respectively, for the corresponding capacitively coupled plasmas. Microwave helium-hydrogen and argon-hydrogen plasmas showed significant broadening corresponding to an average hydrogen atom energy of 180-210 and 110-130 eV, respectively. The corresponding results from the glow-discharge plasmas were 33-38 and 30-35 eV, respectively, compared to /spl ap/ 4 eV for plasmas of pure hydrogen, neon-hydrogen, and xenon-hydrogen maintained in any of the sources. Similarly, the average electron temperatures T/sub e/ for helium-hydrogen and argon-hydrogen inductively coupled RF and microwave plasmas were high (43 200 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, 18 600 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, 30 500 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, and 13 700 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, respectively); compared to 9300 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, 7300 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, 8000 /spl plusmn/ 5% K, and 6700 /spl plusmn/ 5% K for the corresponding plasmas of xenon-hydrogen and hydrogen alone, respectively. Stark broadening or acceleration of charged species due to high electric fields cannot explain the inductively coupled RF and microwave results since the electron density was low and no high field was present. Rather, a resonant energy transfer mechanism is proposed.     

Assessment of ForeFire/Meso-NH for wildland fire/atmosphere coupled simulation of the FireFlux experiment

Numerical simulations using a coupled approach between Meso-NH (Non-Hydrostatic) LES (Large Eddy Simulation) mesoscale atmospheric model and ForeFire wildland fire area simulator are compared to experimental data to assess the performance of the proposed coupled approach in predicting fine-scale properties of the dynamics of wildland fires. Meso-NH is a non-hydrostatic, large eddy simulation capable, atmospheric research model. ForeFire insures a front tracking of the fire front by means of Lagrangian markers evolving on the earth’s surface according to a physical rate-of-spread model. The atmospheric model forces the fire behavior through the surface wind field, whereas the fire forces the atmosphere simulation through surface boundary conditions of heat and vapor fluxes. The FireFlux experiment, an experimental 32 Ha burn of tall grass instrumented with wind profilers and thermocouples, was designed specifically to estimate the atmospheric perturbation introduced by wildland fire. Comparisons of the simulations at different resolutions with the large-scale experiment validate the chosen coupling methodology and the choice of a coupled approach with a meso-scale atmospheric model for the prediction of wildland fire propagation. Distinct fire propagation behavior is simulated between coupled and non-coupled simulation. While the simulations did not reproduce high frequency perturbations, it is shown that the atmospheric model captures well atmospheric perturbations induced by combustion at the ground level in terms of behavior and amplitude.     

氧氩比对纳米ZnO薄膜蓝光发射光谱的影响

利用射频磁控溅射方法,在石英表面上制备了具有良好的c轴取向的纳米ZnO薄膜。室温下,在300 nm激发下,在450 nm附近观测到ZnO薄膜的蓝光发射谱(430~460 nm)。分析了气氛中氧气与氩气比对薄膜质量及蓝光发射光谱的影响,给出了纳米ZnO薄膜光致发光谱(PL)的积分强度和峰值强度与氧氩比关系。探讨了纳米ZnO薄膜的蓝光光谱的发射机制,初步证实了ZnO蓝光发射(2.88~2.69 eV)来自氧空位(VO)形成的浅施主能级上的电子至价带顶的跃迁。     

Analysis of pair correlation functions for macroscopic particles in dusty plasmas: Numerical simulation and experiment

Pair correlation is analyzed for systems of macroscopic particles with various isotropic interaction potentials. Under certain conditions, the behavior of the pair correlation function is determined by an effective order parameter and its decrease toward infinity follows an asymptotic power law. When the effective parameter is smaller than a certain critical value, the decay of pair correlation is much steeper. Experimental results concerning the form of the pair correlation function are presented for liquid-like dust structures localized in the near-electrode plasma sheath of a high-frequency capacitive discharge. An analysis of numerical and experimental results shows that melting dynamics in these systems are analogous to those characteristic of a topological phase transition.     

Properties of inductively coupled plasma source with helical coil

This paper presents modeling and experimental results of the voltage, current, and density profiles of a helical resonator plasma source. The source has a 5/4-wavelength (λ) helical resonator structure with the helical coil short-circuited at one end and open circuited at the other end. When the radio frequency (RF) tap for power feeding was located at an odd multiple of λ/4 from the short-circuited end, the observed voltage, current, and plasma density were higher in the short-circuited section than those in the open-circuited section. The opposite property was observed with the RF tap at an even multiple of λ/4. A microstrip transmission line model was used to explain the experimental results. The model accurately predicted the RF voltage and current profiles. After calculation of RF voltage and current, the plasma density was solved numerically. The difference between the calculated and measured plasma density was within a factor of two. The changes on the density profile indicate that the transport properties of plasma can be adjusted with the RF tap position     

常压氩/氮射频容性放电冷等离子体的发射光谱诊断

实验中在大气压下在射频(13.56 MHz)容性耦合的平板形金属电极的构型中实现了氩/氮射频α模式的辉光放电.首先,采用发射光谱的方法测量了氮分子(C 3Ⅱu)谱线随氮气含量的变化;其次,使用玻耳兹曼斜率法估算了OH谱带(A2∑+→X 2Ⅱ)的转动温度,并得到等离子体温度随输入功率的变化规律.最后,选取氮的第二正带(C...     

Phase shift effects of radio-frequency bias on ion energy distribution in continuous wave and pulse modulated inductively coupled plasmas

A retarding field energy analyzer(RFEA) is used to measure the time-averaged ion energy distributions(IEDs) on the substrate in both continuous wave(CW) and synchronous pulse modulated radio-frequency(RF) inductively coupled Ar plasmas(ICPs).The effects of the phase shift θ between the RF bias voltage and the RF source on the IED is investigated under various discharge conditions.It is found that as θ increases from 0 to π,the IED moves towards the low-energy side,and its energy width becomes narrower.In order to figure out the physical mechanism,the voltage waveforms on the substrate are also measured.The results show that as θ increases from 0 to π,the amplitude of the voltage waveform decreases and,meanwhile,the average sheath potential decreases as well.Specifically,the potential drop in the sheath on the substrate exhibits a maximum value at the same phase(i.e.,θ = 0) and a minimum value at the opposite phase(i.e.,θ = π).Therefore,when ions traverse across the sheath region above the substrate,they obtain less energies at lower sheath potential drop,leading to lower ion energy.Besides,as θ increases from π to 2π,the IEDs and their energy widths change reversely.     

Microtrench of oxynitride thin films in a C2F6 inductively coupled plasma

An etching of oxynitride (SiON) films was conducted using an inductively coupled plasma. The experimental ranges for the radio frequency source power, the bias power, the pressure, and the C₂F₆ flow rates were 400-1000 W, 30-90 W, 6-12 mTorr, and 30-60 sccm, respectively. The etch characteristics examined include etch rate, profile angle, and microtrench. Particular emphasis was placed on the investigation of microtrench etch mechanisms. For this, both etch rate and profile angle variations were correlated to microtrench variation. In general, microtrench variation was complex depending on process parameters or experimental ranges given a certain parameter. Microtrench variation with the bias power was opposite to the profile angle variation. Little relationship between them was noticed for the source power variation. In contrast, microtrench variation was highly correlated to the profile angle variation for C₂F₆ flow rates. For the pressure variation, microtrench variation was reasonably explained by the distribution of polymer deposition. The empirical relationships identified can be utilized for microtrench control.     

Kinetic simulation of bounded plasmas with the BLOB method

In the industrial applications of plasmas, the interaction of charged particles with the surfaces of the reactor chamber is extremely important. Considerable effort is being devoted to study the formation and the properties of the sheath near confining structures or around solid objects immersed in a plasma. In this paper, results obtained by using the BLOB method to simulate collisionless sheaths are presented. The BLOB method is based on the particle-in-cell (PIC) approach, but uses particles with additional degrees of freedom to describe their size and shape     

Standardless analysis of solids by mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma

The possibility of the standardless mass spectrometric analysis of the elemental composition of solids has been discussed. The effect of each stage of the laser plasma expansion on the formation of the coefficient of relative sensitivity of elements in the sample has been studied theoretically and experimentally. It has been shown that the stages of ionization and detection make the main contribution to the formation of the coefficient of relative sensitivity. It has been proposed to separate dissociation and ionization processes in time and/or in space. To compensate for the energy spread of ions at the output of the analyzer, a circuit has been proposed for aligning the energy of ions before their detection.     

Nonselective vertical etching of GaAs and AlGaAs/GaAs in high pressure capacitively coupled BCl3/N2 plasmas

We studied nonselective, vertical dry etching of GaAs and AlGaAs/GaAs structure in high pressure capacitively coupled BCl₃/N₂ plasmas. The operating pressure was fixed at 150 m Torr. We found that there was an optimized process condition for nonselective and vertical etching of GaAs and AlGaAs/GaAs at the relatively high pressure. It was noted that there was a range of % N₂ (i.e. 20–40%) where nonselective etching of GaAs over AlGaAs could be achieved in the BCl₃/N₂ mixed plasma. We also found that dry etching of GaAs and AlGaAs/GaAs structure provided quite vertical and smooth surface when % N₂ was in the range of 0–20% in the BCl₃/N₂ plasma. The maximum etch rates for GaAs (0.41 μm/min) and AlGaAs/GaAs structure (0.42 μm/min) were obtained with 20–30% N₂ composition in the plasma.