Spatial distribution of charged particles in a magnetic neutral loop discharge etcher: experimental results and numerical simulations

This paper reports a result of rather sophisticated measurement in a magnetic neutral loop discharge (NLD) etcher system. The spatial profiles of electron temperature Te and density ne were measured for an extended region including the downstream of the source using laser Thomson scattering technique. Also, based on these profiles and ion current density measured by a double probe, experimental and numerical investigation for the entire structure of electron behavior was performed. The results showed that the high-density plasma produced around the magnetic neutral loop (NL) is transferred from the NL region to the downstream region along magnetic force lines.