- Email: [email protected]
Production of a large diameter ECR plasma with low electron temperature
Thin Solid Films 506 – 507 (2006) 499 – 502 www.elsevier.com/locate/tsf
Production of a large diameter ECR plasma with low electron temperature Mayuko Koga *, Yasuhiro Hishikawa, Hayato Tsuchiya, Yoshinobu Kawai Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, 6-1, Kasuga Koen, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan Available online 19 September 2005
Abstract A large diameter plasma over 300 mm in diameter is produced by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) discharges using a cylindrical vacuum chamber of 400 mm in inner diameter. It is found that the plasma uniformity is improved by adding the nitrogen gas to pure Ar plasma. The electron temperature is decreased by adding the nitrogen gas. It is considered that the electron energy is absorbed in the vibrational energy of nitrogen molecules and the electron temperature decreases. Therefore, the adjunction of the nitrogen gas is considered to be effective for producing uniform and low electron temperature plasma. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Plasma processing and deposition; Nitrogen; Electron temperature
1. Introduction At present, a large diameter plasma with the diameter more than 300 mm has been required in industry. Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma [1– 3] has great advantages for plasma application such as high electron density, low gas pressure operation, and low contaminations compared with other plasma sources. However, the electron temperature in ECR plasma is relatively high so that the charge up damage is often caused. Thus, to produce a large diameter ECR plasma with low electron temperature is one of the most important subjects for plasma application. In order to control the electron temperature, some methods are reported such as grid method [4– 6], pulse modulation [7] and low frequency microwaves [8]. Itagaki et al. succeeded in decreasing the electron temperature by using the mirror magnetic field and found that the decreasing effect was enhanced by adding the nitrogen gas to argon plasma [9]. It is considered that nitrogen molecules absorb the energy of electrons and cause the low electron temperature [10]. However, the relationship between the electron temperature and the nitrogen gas concentration has * Corresponding author. EcoTopia Science Institute, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan. Tel.: +81 52 789 2796; fax: +81 52 789 2796. E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Koga). 0040-6090/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2005.08.107
not been investigated yet. In this paper, we reported the production of a large diameter ECR plasma by using the newly developed large diameter chamber and the investigation of the relationship between the electron temperature and the nitrogen gas concentration.
2. Experimental setup Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus. The cylindrical vacuum chamber was made of stainless steel with an inner diameter 400.4 mm and a length 1200 mm. The magnetic coils assembly consisted of eight coils. Positions and currents of the coils were variable to form various magnetic field configurations. The frequency of microwaves was 2.45 GHz and the power could be increased up to 1.3 kW. Microwaves were launched into a chamber as a circular TE11 mode through the tapered waveguide and the quartz window. The matching between the microwave circuit and the plasma was adjusted with the three-stub tuner in such a way that the reflected microwave power monitored by power monitor was as low as possible. Rotary pump and 2000 l/s turbo molecular pump were connected to evacuate the chamber. After evacuating to a base pressure less than 4 10 6 Torr, Ar and N2 gas were introduced into the chamber through mass flow controllers. The density and the temperature of electrons were measured
500
M. Koga et al. / Thin Solid Films 506 – 507 (2006) 499 – 502
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of experimental apparatus.
Fig. 2 shows the radial profile of the ion saturation current as a function of the incident microwave power. The measured point was 450 mm downstream from the ECR point. The gas pressure was 2 mTorr. As shown in Fig. 2, large diameter plasma over 300 mm diameter is obtained. It is found that the radial profile of electron density changes from flat profile to convex profile as the microwave power is increased. This change is considered to be the effect of extraordinary wave (X wave). As reported in Refs. [2,11], X wave that propagates perpendicular to the magnetic field causes upper hybrid resonance and contributes to plasma
generation near the wall region when the electron density becomes around the L cutoff, 1 –2 1011 cm 3. Fig. 3 shows the radial profile of the floating potential measured at the same point. It was found that the floating potential profile has strong negative potential peaks at the edge of plasma when the incident microwave power is 0.6 kW. On the other hand, the potential profile becomes uniform when the incident microwave power is increased as 0.8, 1.0 kW. These changes correspond to that of the radial density profile. It is considered that the strong negative potential peaks suggest the existence of high-energy electrons excited by X wave. Fig. 4 shows the radial profile of the ion saturation current in Ar/N2 plasma. The nitrogen gas concentration a N2 was determined as follows; a N2 = S N2 / (S N2 + S Ar). Here S N2 and S Ar denote the gas flow rate of N2 and Ar, respectively. The other experimental conditions are the same as Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. The radial profile of the ion saturation current as a function of the incident microwave power.
Fig. 3. The radial profile of the floating potential as a function of the incident microwave power.
with a cylindrical single Langmuir probe (1 mm diameter and 1 mm length).
3. Results and discussion
M. Koga et al. / Thin Solid Films 506 – 507 (2006) 499 – 502
Note that the radial uniformity is improved in Ar/N2 plasma compared with the case of pure argon plasma. The plasma uniformity in 300 mm diameter was improved from T 14.0% to T 7.7% by adding the nitrogen gas. As shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the electron density in Ar/N2 plasma is lower than that of pure Ar plasma because of the lighter mass of the nitrogen molecules compared with argon atoms. Therefore, it is considered that the excitation of X wave is higher than that in Ar plasma because the electron density does not exceed the L cutoff density and, as the result, the more uniform density profile is obtained. Fig. 5 shows (a) the electron temperature and (b) the electron density as a function of the nitrogen gas concentration. The total gas pressure was kept at 2 mTorr and the incident microwave power was 1.0 kW. It is found that the electron temperature decreases as the nitrogen gas concentration is increased up to 20%. It is considered that the decrease of the electron temperature was due to the absorption of the electron energy in the vibrational energy of nitrogen molecules. As shown in Fig. 6, nitrogen molecules have a large vibrational cross section at low energy of 2 eV [12]. On the other hand, argon atoms have collision cross sections at high energy of 10– 100 eV. In our system, the electron temperature was below 10 eV. Therefore, it is considered that the effect of energy absorption by nitrogen molecules was larger than that by argon atoms and caused the decrease of the electron temperature. As shown in Fig. 5a, the electron temperature begins to increase when the nitrogen concentration is above 20%. This increase of the electron temperature is considered as the result of the increase of the plasma loss, since nitrogen molecules and nitrogen atoms are light compared with argon atoms. It is well known that the electron temperature generally increases to sustain the plasma when the electron density decreases. Itagaki et al. calculated the relationship between the electron temperature and the electron density in Ar plasma and N2
Fig. 4. The radial profile of the ion saturation current in Ar/N2 plasma.
501
Fig. 5. (a) The electron temperature and (b) the electron density as a function of the nitrogen gas concentration.
plasma [9]. They found that the calculated electron temperature in N2 plasma was higher than that in Ar plasma when the same electron density was sustained, because the loss of
Fig. 6. Cross sections for electron collisions with N2: N+2 and N+ are ionization; vib is vibrational excitation; A, B, W, c and a are excitation for the relevant states (Ref. [12]).
502
M. Koga et al. / Thin Solid Films 506 – 507 (2006) 499 – 502
compared with that in pure Ar plasma. This result may be due to the large plasma loss of Ar/N2 plasma. However, the electron density of Ar/N2 plasma (a N2 = 10%) is sufficient for plasma application (about 2 1011cm 3).
4. Summary
Fig. 7. The pressure dependence of (a) the electron temperature and (b) the pressure dependence of the electron density.
plasma was higher in N2 plasma than that in Ar plasma. In fact, as shown in Fig. 5b, the electron density decreases with the increase of the nitrogen gas concentration. The other candidate is upper hybrid resonance excited by X wave. If the hybrid resonance occurs, electrons gain the energy from the wave and the electron temperature increases. Further measurement is needed for verification. Fig. 7 shows the pressure dependence of (a) the electron temperature and (b) the electron density. The incident microwave power was 1 kW. As shown in Fig. 7, the electron temperature in Ar/N2 plasma is lower than that in pure Ar plasma under all gas pressure conditions. Especially, the electron temperature is about 0.3 eV lower than that in Ar/N2 plasma when the gas pressure is 2 to 4 mTorr. Therefore, it is concluded that the addition of the nitrogen gas for decreasing of the electron temperature is effective in this low pressure range. As shown in Fig. 7b, the pressure dependence of the electron density in Ar/N2 plasma is small
In this paper, the production of a large diameter ECR plasma by using the newly developed large diameter chamber and the investigation of the relationship between the electron temperature and the nitrogen gas concentration was reported. We succeeded in producing large diameter plasma with diameter over 300 mm by using a newly developed large diameter ECR device. It was found that the plasma profile changed from flat to concave when the incident microwave power was increased. This was considered as the effect of X wave. Moreover, it was found that the plasma uniformity was improved by adding the nitrogen gas. The electron temperature decreased as the nitrogen gas concentration was increased up to 20%. It was considered that the electron energy was absorbed in the nitrogen molecular vibrational energy and, as the result, the electron temperature decreased. It was found that the addition of the nitrogen gas is applicable in wide range of the operating gas pressure and the electron density of Ar/N 2 plasma (a N2 = 10%) is sufficient for plasma application. From these results, it is concluded that the addition of the nitrogen gas to pure argon plasma was effective for producing uniform and low electron temperature plasma.
References [1] S. Matsuo, M. Kiuchi, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 22 (1983) L210. [2] Y. Ueda, Y. Kawai, Appl. Phys. Lett. 71 (1997) 2100. [3] M. Koga, T. Yoshizawa, Y. Ueda, A. Yonesu, Y. Kawai, Appl. Phys. Lett. 79 (2001) 3041. [4] K. Kato, S. Iizuka, N. Sato, Appl. Phys. Lett. 65 (1994) 816. [5] K. Kato, T. Shimizu, S. Iizuka, N. Sato, Appl. Phys. Lett. 76 (2000) 547. [6] R.-J. Zhan, X. Wen, X. Zhu, A. Zhao, Vacuum 70 (2003) 499. [7] N. Itagaki, A. Fukuda, T. Yoshizawa, M. Shindo, Y. Ueda, Y. Kawai, Surf. Coat. Technol. 131 (2000) 54. [8] N. Itagaki, S. Kawakaimi, N. Ishii, Y. Kawai, Vacuum 66 (2002) 323. [9] N. Itagaki, Y. Ueda, N. Ishii, Y. Kawai, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 40 (2001) 2489. [10] H. Muta, M. Koga, N. Itagaki, Y. Kawai, Surf. Cont. Technol. 171 (2003) 157. [11] Y. Ueda, Y. Kawai, J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A 16 (1998) 1454. [12] S.C. Brown, Basic Data of Plasma Physics, 2nd edR, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1966, Chap. 5.
Production of a large diameter ECR plasma with low electron temperature Mayuko Koga *, Yasuhiro Hishikawa, Hayato Tsuchiya, Yoshinobu Kawai Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, 6-1, Kasuga Koen, Kasuga, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan Available online 19 September 2005
Abstract A large diameter plasma over 300 mm in diameter is produced by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) discharges using a cylindrical vacuum chamber of 400 mm in inner diameter. It is found that the plasma uniformity is improved by adding the nitrogen gas to pure Ar plasma. The electron temperature is decreased by adding the nitrogen gas. It is considered that the electron energy is absorbed in the vibrational energy of nitrogen molecules and the electron temperature decreases. Therefore, the adjunction of the nitrogen gas is considered to be effective for producing uniform and low electron temperature plasma. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Plasma processing and deposition; Nitrogen; Electron temperature
1. Introduction At present, a large diameter plasma with the diameter more than 300 mm has been required in industry. Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma [1– 3] has great advantages for plasma application such as high electron density, low gas pressure operation, and low contaminations compared with other plasma sources. However, the electron temperature in ECR plasma is relatively high so that the charge up damage is often caused. Thus, to produce a large diameter ECR plasma with low electron temperature is one of the most important subjects for plasma application. In order to control the electron temperature, some methods are reported such as grid method [4– 6], pulse modulation [7] and low frequency microwaves [8]. Itagaki et al. succeeded in decreasing the electron temperature by using the mirror magnetic field and found that the decreasing effect was enhanced by adding the nitrogen gas to argon plasma [9]. It is considered that nitrogen molecules absorb the energy of electrons and cause the low electron temperature [10]. However, the relationship between the electron temperature and the nitrogen gas concentration has * Corresponding author. EcoTopia Science Institute, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan. Tel.: +81 52 789 2796; fax: +81 52 789 2796. E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Koga). 0040-6090/$ - see front matter D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2005.08.107
not been investigated yet. In this paper, we reported the production of a large diameter ECR plasma by using the newly developed large diameter chamber and the investigation of the relationship between the electron temperature and the nitrogen gas concentration.
2. Experimental setup Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus. The cylindrical vacuum chamber was made of stainless steel with an inner diameter 400.4 mm and a length 1200 mm. The magnetic coils assembly consisted of eight coils. Positions and currents of the coils were variable to form various magnetic field configurations. The frequency of microwaves was 2.45 GHz and the power could be increased up to 1.3 kW. Microwaves were launched into a chamber as a circular TE11 mode through the tapered waveguide and the quartz window. The matching between the microwave circuit and the plasma was adjusted with the three-stub tuner in such a way that the reflected microwave power monitored by power monitor was as low as possible. Rotary pump and 2000 l/s turbo molecular pump were connected to evacuate the chamber. After evacuating to a base pressure less than 4 10 6 Torr, Ar and N2 gas were introduced into the chamber through mass flow controllers. The density and the temperature of electrons were measured
500
M. Koga et al. / Thin Solid Films 506 – 507 (2006) 499 – 502
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of experimental apparatus.
Fig. 2 shows the radial profile of the ion saturation current as a function of the incident microwave power. The measured point was 450 mm downstream from the ECR point. The gas pressure was 2 mTorr. As shown in Fig. 2, large diameter plasma over 300 mm diameter is obtained. It is found that the radial profile of electron density changes from flat profile to convex profile as the microwave power is increased. This change is considered to be the effect of extraordinary wave (X wave). As reported in Refs. [2,11], X wave that propagates perpendicular to the magnetic field causes upper hybrid resonance and contributes to plasma
generation near the wall region when the electron density becomes around the L cutoff, 1 –2 1011 cm 3. Fig. 3 shows the radial profile of the floating potential measured at the same point. It was found that the floating potential profile has strong negative potential peaks at the edge of plasma when the incident microwave power is 0.6 kW. On the other hand, the potential profile becomes uniform when the incident microwave power is increased as 0.8, 1.0 kW. These changes correspond to that of the radial density profile. It is considered that the strong negative potential peaks suggest the existence of high-energy electrons excited by X wave. Fig. 4 shows the radial profile of the ion saturation current in Ar/N2 plasma. The nitrogen gas concentration a N2 was determined as follows; a N2 = S N2 / (S N2 + S Ar). Here S N2 and S Ar denote the gas flow rate of N2 and Ar, respectively. The other experimental conditions are the same as Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. The radial profile of the ion saturation current as a function of the incident microwave power.
Fig. 3. The radial profile of the floating potential as a function of the incident microwave power.
with a cylindrical single Langmuir probe (1 mm diameter and 1 mm length).
3. Results and discussion
M. Koga et al. / Thin Solid Films 506 – 507 (2006) 499 – 502
Note that the radial uniformity is improved in Ar/N2 plasma compared with the case of pure argon plasma. The plasma uniformity in 300 mm diameter was improved from T 14.0% to T 7.7% by adding the nitrogen gas. As shown in Figs. 2 and 4, the electron density in Ar/N2 plasma is lower than that of pure Ar plasma because of the lighter mass of the nitrogen molecules compared with argon atoms. Therefore, it is considered that the excitation of X wave is higher than that in Ar plasma because the electron density does not exceed the L cutoff density and, as the result, the more uniform density profile is obtained. Fig. 5 shows (a) the electron temperature and (b) the electron density as a function of the nitrogen gas concentration. The total gas pressure was kept at 2 mTorr and the incident microwave power was 1.0 kW. It is found that the electron temperature decreases as the nitrogen gas concentration is increased up to 20%. It is considered that the decrease of the electron temperature was due to the absorption of the electron energy in the vibrational energy of nitrogen molecules. As shown in Fig. 6, nitrogen molecules have a large vibrational cross section at low energy of 2 eV [12]. On the other hand, argon atoms have collision cross sections at high energy of 10– 100 eV. In our system, the electron temperature was below 10 eV. Therefore, it is considered that the effect of energy absorption by nitrogen molecules was larger than that by argon atoms and caused the decrease of the electron temperature. As shown in Fig. 5a, the electron temperature begins to increase when the nitrogen concentration is above 20%. This increase of the electron temperature is considered as the result of the increase of the plasma loss, since nitrogen molecules and nitrogen atoms are light compared with argon atoms. It is well known that the electron temperature generally increases to sustain the plasma when the electron density decreases. Itagaki et al. calculated the relationship between the electron temperature and the electron density in Ar plasma and N2
Fig. 4. The radial profile of the ion saturation current in Ar/N2 plasma.
501
Fig. 5. (a) The electron temperature and (b) the electron density as a function of the nitrogen gas concentration.
plasma [9]. They found that the calculated electron temperature in N2 plasma was higher than that in Ar plasma when the same electron density was sustained, because the loss of
Fig. 6. Cross sections for electron collisions with N2: N+2 and N+ are ionization; vib is vibrational excitation; A, B, W, c and a are excitation for the relevant states (Ref. [12]).
502
M. Koga et al. / Thin Solid Films 506 – 507 (2006) 499 – 502
compared with that in pure Ar plasma. This result may be due to the large plasma loss of Ar/N2 plasma. However, the electron density of Ar/N2 plasma (a N2 = 10%) is sufficient for plasma application (about 2 1011cm 3).
4. Summary
Fig. 7. The pressure dependence of (a) the electron temperature and (b) the pressure dependence of the electron density.
plasma was higher in N2 plasma than that in Ar plasma. In fact, as shown in Fig. 5b, the electron density decreases with the increase of the nitrogen gas concentration. The other candidate is upper hybrid resonance excited by X wave. If the hybrid resonance occurs, electrons gain the energy from the wave and the electron temperature increases. Further measurement is needed for verification. Fig. 7 shows the pressure dependence of (a) the electron temperature and (b) the electron density. The incident microwave power was 1 kW. As shown in Fig. 7, the electron temperature in Ar/N2 plasma is lower than that in pure Ar plasma under all gas pressure conditions. Especially, the electron temperature is about 0.3 eV lower than that in Ar/N2 plasma when the gas pressure is 2 to 4 mTorr. Therefore, it is concluded that the addition of the nitrogen gas for decreasing of the electron temperature is effective in this low pressure range. As shown in Fig. 7b, the pressure dependence of the electron density in Ar/N2 plasma is small
In this paper, the production of a large diameter ECR plasma by using the newly developed large diameter chamber and the investigation of the relationship between the electron temperature and the nitrogen gas concentration was reported. We succeeded in producing large diameter plasma with diameter over 300 mm by using a newly developed large diameter ECR device. It was found that the plasma profile changed from flat to concave when the incident microwave power was increased. This was considered as the effect of X wave. Moreover, it was found that the plasma uniformity was improved by adding the nitrogen gas. The electron temperature decreased as the nitrogen gas concentration was increased up to 20%. It was considered that the electron energy was absorbed in the nitrogen molecular vibrational energy and, as the result, the electron temperature decreased. It was found that the addition of the nitrogen gas is applicable in wide range of the operating gas pressure and the electron density of Ar/N 2 plasma (a N2 = 10%) is sufficient for plasma application. From these results, it is concluded that the addition of the nitrogen gas to pure argon plasma was effective for producing uniform and low electron temperature plasma.
References [1] S. Matsuo, M. Kiuchi, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 22 (1983) L210. [2] Y. Ueda, Y. Kawai, Appl. Phys. Lett. 71 (1997) 2100. [3] M. Koga, T. Yoshizawa, Y. Ueda, A. Yonesu, Y. Kawai, Appl. Phys. Lett. 79 (2001) 3041. [4] K. Kato, S. Iizuka, N. Sato, Appl. Phys. Lett. 65 (1994) 816. [5] K. Kato, T. Shimizu, S. Iizuka, N. Sato, Appl. Phys. Lett. 76 (2000) 547. [6] R.-J. Zhan, X. Wen, X. Zhu, A. Zhao, Vacuum 70 (2003) 499. [7] N. Itagaki, A. Fukuda, T. Yoshizawa, M. Shindo, Y. Ueda, Y. Kawai, Surf. Coat. Technol. 131 (2000) 54. [8] N. Itagaki, S. Kawakaimi, N. Ishii, Y. Kawai, Vacuum 66 (2002) 323. [9] N. Itagaki, Y. Ueda, N. Ishii, Y. Kawai, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 40 (2001) 2489. [10] H. Muta, M. Koga, N. Itagaki, Y. Kawai, Surf. Cont. Technol. 171 (2003) 157. [11] Y. Ueda, Y. Kawai, J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A 16 (1998) 1454. [12] S.C. Brown, Basic Data of Plasma Physics, 2nd edR, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1966, Chap. 5.