Kinetic plasma simulations for three dielectric etchers Original Research Article

Particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collision (PIC/MCC) modeling of dual frequency asymmetric capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) sources has been carried out. In particular, the following configurations have been modeled: 27/2 MHz system with an electrode separation of 2 cm, 60/2 MHz system with a gap of 4.5 cm, and 162/13.56 MHz system with a gap of 3.2 cm. It is found that both the ion flux to the electrode and the ion bombardment energy can be controlled independently in dual-frequency CCP (DF-CCP). Through kinetic modelings, many of the kinetic characteristics of the plasma discharge of three major dielectric etchers are compared.