Development of validated fluorocarbon plasma chemistry for multi-dimensional modeling of semiconductor plasma etch processes

In this presentation, recent progress in the development and understanding of fluorocarbon plasma chemical mechanisms will be discussed. The mechanisms include the perfluorocyclobutane (c-C₄F₈) and tetrafluoromethane (CF4), two important gases in plasma etching applications. The self-consistent plasma fluid simulation model coupled with a comprehensive finite-rate chemical reaction mechanism is used for the mechanism development and validation. First, the deficiencies of the existing mechanisms of plasma chemical reactions found in the literature will be discussed and the approach to improve these mechanisms will be presented. Second, the results of self-consistent simulations of inductively coupled plasmas in pure c-C₄F₈ and CF4 with the experimental data available in the literature will be compared. Finally, the influence of various model parameters such as the surface reactions mechanism, gas pressure, discharge power, and electron stochastic heating length scale on the plasma parameters will be analyzed. The influence of these parameters on the kinetics of the dominant plasma species will be presented.