Fundamentals of

Plasma
 Objectives
• List at least three kinds of IC process using
plasma
• List three important collisions in plasma
• Explain “mean free path”
• Explain the benefits of plasma used in
etching and chemical vapor deposition
process
• List at least two high-density plasma
systems
 Subject of plasma

• What is plasma?
• Why plasma?
• Ion bombardment
• Applications of plasma processing
 Applications of plasma processing

• Chemical vapor deposition

• Etching
• Physical vapor deposition
• Ion implantation
• Photoresist stripping
• Dry clean in the reaction chamber
 Fundamentals of plasma
• Plasma is an equal number of ______ and
_______ charges of ion gas.
• Collision:
– ________ to generate and maintain plasma
– ______ÅÆ______ to generate glow plasma
– Decomposition to create reactive radicals
 Components of plasma

• Plasma is composed of ________, ________

and ________

• Quasi-neutral: _________

• ionization rate游離率: η ≈ __________

 Ionization rate
• Ionization rate is mainly determined by the
__________in the plasma
• The ionization rate is less than 0.001% in the
most plasma process chamber.
• High-density plasma (HDP) has a higher
ionization rate, about ______.
• The core of the Sun has ionization rate of
_________.
 Mean free path (MFP)
• The average travel distance of a moving
particle between successive collisions.
1
λ =
nσ
• n is ________________________
• σ is ______________________________
 Mean free path (MFP)
• The effects of ambient pressure (p)

___________________

• The higher the pressure, the __________

the mean free path
• The lower the pressure, the __________
the mean free path
 Neutral gas density
• Ideal gas
– 1 mol = 22.4 liters = 2.24×104 cm3
– 1 mol= 6.62 ×1023 molecules
• Density of the gas at atmospheric pressure is
12.96×1019 cm−3
• 1 torr : the gas density 3.89×1016 cm−3
• 1 mTorr : the gas density 3.89×1013 cm−3
• RF plasma has very low ionization rate
 Parallel plate plasma system
(2)____power

(4) _____ (5) _________ (1)______

(3)to________
 To generate plasma
• Need external energy
• Radio frequency (RF) /microwave are the
most commonly used energy
• Requires vacuum environment

RF Frequency commonly uses 13.56 MHz

microwave Æ 2.45GHz
 Ionization
• Ionization :____________________________
• Release the orbital shackles束縛 of nuclear

e- + A A + + 2 e-

• The collision generates ____________and

____________
• Maintain the stability of the plasma
 Ionization

Atomic Atomic
nucleus nucleus

Incident free Orbital Two free

electron collides electron electrons
with orbital
electron
 Excitation - relaxation
e- + A Æ A * + e-

A* Æ A + hν (Light)

• Different atoms / molecules have different

________, which is why different gases may
emit different _________.

• Detect the change of the colors to determine the

end point of _______ and the cleaning step of a
______________chamber (endpoint)
 Excitation by collision
impinging
electrons
Electron
Electronc
(excited state)
(ground state)

Incident
impinging
electrons Atomic Atomic
nucleus nucleus
Relaxation
h: Planck constant
ν: The frequency of the
hν light
Excited state
hν

Ground state
 Decomposition分解
• The collisions of electron and molecular, can
break chemical bonds (e.g., AB) and generate
free radicals自由基:
Chemical reaction formula:________________
• Free radicals have at least one unpaired
electron, which is easy to chemically react.
Æ Thus increase the _____________
• Important to _______ and ______________
process
 Decomposition

e-
Radicals
B
A B A
molecule e-
 Plasma etching
• Oxide etch process uses Fluorine- (F)
radicals generated from ________
e− + CF4 → CF3 + F + e−
________________________
• Enhances the chemical reaction in etching
process
 Plasma enhanced chemical vapor
deposition
• PECVD uses _____ and ______
e− + SiH4 → SiH2 + 2H + e−
e− + N2O → N2 + O + e−
SiH2 + 3O → SiO2 + H2O
• Plasma enhanced chemical reactions
• PECVD can perform a high deposition rate at
relatively low temperatures
 Q&A
• Why the decomposition of the collision is
not important for copper and aluminum
sputtering process?
• Ans:_______________________
 Q&A
• Why the decomposition of the collision is
not important for copper and aluminum
sputtering process?
• sputtering processes for Aluminum and
copper use only inert gas - argon, the inert
gas is present in the form of atoms rather
than molecules, and therefore does not
produce the decomposition of the plasma
collide argon
 Q&A
• Is there collision and decomposition in PVD
process ?
• Yes , for example, argon (Ar) and nitrogen
(N2) are used to deposit titanium nitride
(TiN) (1) _______is decomposed to
generate radicals N, and the radicals (2)N
reacts with titanium to form titanium nitride
on titanium target surface. (3)Ar+ ion
sputter __________from the surface and
deposit on the wafer surface
 Q&A
• Which collisions in the table are most likely to
happen? Why?
ÆThose requiring the minimum impact energy are the
most likely to occur collision
碰撞 副產品 形成所需的能量

e- + SiH4 → SiH2 + H2 + e- 2.2 eV

SiH3 + H + e- 4.0 eV
Si + 2 H2 + e- 4.2 eV
SiH + H2 + H + e- 5.7 eV
SiH2* + 2H + e- 8.9 eV
Si* + 2H2 + e- 9.5 eV
SiH2+ + H2 + 2 e- 11.9 eV
SiH3+ + H + 2 e- 12.32 eV
Si+ + 2H2 + 2 e- 13.6 eV
SiH+ + H2 + H + 2 e- 15.3 eV
 Mean free path (MFP)
• the average distance travelled by a moving
particle (such as an atom, a molecule, a
photon) between successive impacts.
1
λ =
nσ
• n is the density of the particles
• σ is the cross-section of collision particles
Description of mean free path

(a) (b)
 Mean free path (MFP)
• The effects of pressure

λ∝ 1
p

• The higher the pressure, the shorter the

mean free path
• The lower the pressure, the longer the
mean free path
 Q&A
• Why do we need a vacuum chamber to
produce a stable plasma?
Æ___________________________________

In an extremely strong electric field, plasma form

arcing such as lightning, rather than a stable glow
discharge
 Moving charged particles
• The mass of electron is much less than that
of ion
me << mi
me: MH = 1: 1836 (電子:氫~質子)
• Electron and ion have the same electricity
F = qE
• Electron is accelerated faster than ion
a=F/m
 Moving charged particles
• Electric field of RF changes very quickly,
_________(electrons/ ions) can be accelerated
and quickly began to collide, heavy
_________(electrons/ ions) can not immediately
respond to the electric field like electron
• ____ has more collision due to the large cross
section, it exhibits slow velocity movement
• On the contrary, ________ move much faster in
the plasma
Magnetic field and spiral motion
• The magnetic force acting on a charged
particle:
F = Qv×B
• The ______ of the charged particle is always
perpendicular to ______
• The charged particles spirally move along the
field line.
• 螺旋運動(spiral motion)
 Spiral motion

Charged particle trajectories

Magnetic line of force
 Ion bombardment
• When the plasma process begins, anything close
to the plasma will have ion bombardment
• Important for ________, ________, and
___________
• Mainly determined by _____________
• ___________ affecst bombardment
 Ion bombardment
• Electrons move much faster than ions
• ________ first reaches the electrode and the wall
of a reaction chamber
• A negatively charged electrode, repels electrons
and attracts ions.
• ___________accelerates the ions move toward
the electrode due to potential difference, and
causing ion bombardment.
 Electric potential of sheath
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
- - - - - - - - -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
- - - - - - - - - - -

electrode
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
- - - - - - - - - - - -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
- - - - - - - - - -
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +
- - - - - - - -
+ + + + + + + + + + + x + + +

Plasma (電漿；等離子體) Sheath

Vp

sheath potential
Vf
dark zone
 Relationship between the RF
power and DC bias
Plasma potential
Voltage
(volts)

DC bias RF potential
time
 DC bias and RF power
Plasma potential

Plasma potential

DC bias
DC bias time
0 0
time

RF potential

•Low RF power • High power RF

• Small DC bias • Large DC bias
Ion bombardmentt is determined
by
• 1. ion_______
• 2. ion_______
• Both controlled by _______
 Ion bombardment control
• Increase of the ___________and ___________,
can increase the ion density.
• _______ is the most important factor to control
the ion bombardmen
• _________is also used to control film stress of
plasma enhanced chemical vapor
deposition(PECVD) process
 CESL films
• Use CESL made of ______ to generate tensile or
compressive stress on channel
• Refer to “External Stresses on Tensile and
Compressive Contact Etching Stop Layer SOI
MOSFETs”-IEEE TED 2010
by Wen-Teng Chang, et al
 DC bias of PECVD

Grounding electrode
Radio frequency electrode

Vp

Dark region or
sheath region
 Plasma w/DC bias in etch chamber
Plasma potential (positive)

0 time
Wafer potential
DC bias

Self-bias
 Q&A
• Can we insert a metal probe to measure the
plasma potential in the plasmaV2?
• Yes, but when the probe is close to the
plasma, it is affected by fast-moving electrons
and negatively charged, and the sheath
potential is formed.
• theoretical models of sheath potential has not
yet fully developed for its theoretical models
Ion bombardment and electrode
dimensions

• A (small/ large) _____ electrode will

have a large sheath voltage, it is possible
to produce higher energy ion
bombardment
• Most of the wafer is placed on the
smaller electrode of the etch chamber
 Advantages to use plasma

• IC fabrication:
– Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition
• Dry cleaning on a chemical vapor deposition
reaction chamber
– Plasma etching
– Physical vapor deposition
– Ion implantation
Benefits of plasma in chemical vapor
deposition process -
• _____________________________ .

• ______________________________

• ______________________________
Comparison of PECVD and LPCVD
製程 LPCVD (150 mm) PECVD (150 mm)

化學反應 SiH4+ O 2 → SiO2 + … SiH4+ N2O → SiO2 + …

製程參數 p =3 Torr, T=400 °C p=3 Torr, T=400 °C 與
RF=180 W
沉積速率 100 到 200 Å/min ≥ 8000 Å/min
製程系統 批量系統 單一晶圓

晶圓對晶圓的 難控制 易控制

均勻性
High density plasma chemical vapor
deposition used on gap filling
• Simultaneous _______ and _______

• Opening gap becomes narrow

• gap filling starts from the bottom to top

 Benefits of plasma used in
etching process
1 __________________________
2 __________________________
3 __________________________
4 __________________________
Benefits of plasma used in physical
vapor deposition process -
• __________________ sputtering
• High quality film
– __________________and
__________________
• __________________
• Better process control
• Easily deposite thin films of
_______________
 PECVD chamber

• ________control via ion bombardment

• Wafer on the __________
• Very small self-bias
• Ion bombardment energy is about 10 ~ 20
eV, mainly determined by RF power
PECVD schematic view of the
reaction chamber

RF

vacuum
Plasma Wafer
chuck
 Plasma etching system
• Etching at low pressure
– ________ mean free path, ______ energy ion
energy and ______ sputtering
• Low-voltage, long mean free path,Less
impact ionization
– Plasma is difficult to produce and support
• _________ is used to force electrons to
move with ______and thus ______
opportunity of collision
 Schematic of plasma etching
reaction
Process gas
chamber

Process
chamber Plasma Magnetic
Wafer field coil

Chuck
By-products
are pumped RF power
by vacuum With helium
pump cooling on
the back side
of the wafer
 Remote plasma process

• Need free radical

– Enhanced chemical reaction
• Avoid ________
– Avoid plasma induced damage
 Remote Plasma System
Microwave or Remote plasma
RF power reaction chamber
Process
gas Plasma

Process
chamber Free radicals

By-products are pumped Heating plate

by vacuum pump
 Photoresist stripping光阻剝除
• Immediately after removing the photoresist
etching
• Use _____ and ______
• Etching can be integrated into the system
• Etching and photoresist stripping
• improving productivity and yield
Photoresist stripping process
microwave Remote plasma
reaction chamber
H2O, O2 Plasma

Process chamber
The surface O H O O H O H O
of the wafer
photoresist

H2O, CO2, Heating plate

...To a
vacuum
pump
 Remote plasma etching
• Applications: _________ etching process:
– Partial oxidation or a shallow trench isolation
of nitride-based stripping
– Cup-shaped contact hole etch
• Plasma etching systems can be integrated
– Improve productivity
• Replace part of wet etching process
Remote plasma etching system
Remote plasma
microwave
reaction chamber

NF3 Plasma

Wafer
Process F F F
N2 F
chamber F N2

N2, SiF4, ... Heating plate

To a
vacuum
pump
 Local/Remote plasma cleaning
•
method
Deposition occurs not only on the surface of the wafer but
the wall of the chamber
• CVD reaction chamber needs routine cleaning
– To avoid particulate contamination due to film ruptures
on the wall
• Plasma cleaning gas generally uses fluorocarbon氟碳化合
物
– ion bombardment reduces lifetime of the parts in a
chamber (for local plasma method)
– Fluorocarbon has low decomposition rate
– Environmentalists are concerned about the release of
fluorocarbons
Remote plasma cleaning method
• Microwave high-density plasma
• Free Radical flow into CVD chamber
• Cleaning the reaction chamber (Remote)
– ________ the life of the parts
– ______ decomposition and release ______
amounts of fluorocarbon
Schematic view of a remote
plasma cleaning
microwave Remote plasma
reaction
chamber
NF3 Plasma

CVD F F
N2 F
reaction F N2 F
chamber

N2, SiF4, ... Heating

To a plate
vacuum
pump
 High-density plasma (HDP)
• Wish to produce a _________ at ______
• The low pressure with a long mean free path,
the ______ ion sputtering, enhance the control
of the etch profile.
• The higher the density, The more
_____________________
– Promote chemical reactions
– Increase ion bombardment
• For CVD Process, HDP enhances the gap-
filling ability and etchback / deposition
 Inductively coupled plasma (Inductively coupled
plasma; ICP)感應耦合型電漿And electron
cyclotron resonance (Electron Cyclotron Resonance;
ECR)電子迴旋共振

• Commonly used in in IC industry

• Inductively coupled plasma, ICP
– Also called transformer coupled plasma source,
TCP變壓器耦合電漿源
• Electron Cyclotron Resonance, ECR
• ICP can produce High density plasma in a low
pressure state (a few mtorr)
• Independently control the ion energy and the
ion beam
 Inductively coupled plasma(ICP)
• When a radio frequency current through
the coil, the inductive coupling via an
electric field is time-varying generated
• Spiral electric field accelerates electrons in
spiral direction.
• Due to the electron cyclotron, electrons can
move a long distance without hitting the
reaction chamber walls or electrodes.
• Ionizing collisions is produced in a low
pressure state (HDP)
ICP- schematic view of the
reaction chamber
Induction Ceramic cover
RF power coil
source

Plasma Wafer
Reactor
body
Electrostatic RF bias
chuck Helium
 Electron cyclotron resonance
(ECR)
• Angular frequency螺旋轉動頻率(Ω) Or
cyclotron frequency:
qB
Ω=
m

• Determined by magnetic field

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_cyclotron_resonance
 Electron cyclotron resonance
(ECR)
• When ωMW = Ωe, it generates an electron cyclotron
resonance電子迴旋共振
• Electrons obtain energy from the microwave
• With the energy, electrons collide with atom or
molecular
• Ionized state produces more collisions and generate
more electrons
• Electrons move along with the gyro magnetic field
• More collisions occur at low pressure,
Electron cyclotron resonance
(ECR)
Electron
trajectory

mic
ave row
Electron cyclotron resonance
(ECR)microwave

Field coil
ECR
Plasma
Magnetic Wafer
line of force
磁力線
RF bias
Electrostatic
chuck Helium
 Electron cyclotron resonance
(ECR)
• RF bias potential controls the __________
• Microwave power controls ion beam
• Field coil control _______and _________
• The backside requires an __________;
Helium cooling system is to control
___________
 ECR Applications
• Dielectric chemical vapor deposition
• All pattern etching process
• Plasma immersion電漿浸置型 ion
implantation
 Summary
• Plasma is n- = n+ ionized gas
• Plasma is composed of _______________
• Ionization is the course of _______________
• Ion bombardment help increase the
__________________
• Light radiation may be used to _________________
• Mean free path is related to _______________
• Plasma ions always bombard __________________
 Summary
• Capacitively-coupled plasma電容耦合型電漿
: increase of the _____________can increase
the ___________
• __________ requires more ion bombardment
than __________
• Goal: to_____________________________
• _________ and _________ are the two
common HDP system for IC manufacturing