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Plasma Fundamentals for Materials Processing

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Handbook of Advanced Plasma Processing Techniques

Abstract

A plasma is a collection of free atoms or molecules which is partially or fully ionized and which is charge neutral on average. Each charged particle in a plasma interacts simultaneously with many others due to the long-range nature of the electric force. For this reason plasmas are said to exhibit collective behavior. Partially ionized, low temperature plasmas are used extensively for thin film materials processing applications such as etching and deposition. This chapter will review some fundamental plasma concepts that are important in thin film processing applications. The partially ionized plasmas of interest here have electron and ion densities in the range of 1015-1019 m-3 and neutral species densities in the range of 1019-1022 m-3. These plasmas are produced in the pressure range of 1 mTorr to 10 Torr (0.133-1330 Pa). It is the combination of electrical, thermal, and chemical properties that gives these plasmas their unique attributes for materials processing. The scope of this chapter excludes many advanced plasma topics such as confinement, stability, waves, and kinetic theory, which are typically of less importance in processing applications. A number of excellent texts cover plasma physics in more rigorous detail [1–3] and plasma topics are reviewed in some books specific to plasma processing [4–11]. The intent of this chapter is to introduce the main concepts of plasma science, explain how these concepts relate to thin film processing applications, and provide some detail about how these quantities are derived. The equations used in this chapter will be stated in SI units unless noted otherwise.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microelectronics Development Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM, 87185, USA

    J. E. Stevens

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  1. J. E. Stevens
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  1. Sandia National Laboratories, Dept. 1313, MS 0603, PO Box 5800, NM, 87185, Albuquerque, USA

    Randy J. Shul

  2. Dept. Mat. Sci. Eng., University of Florida, 132 Rhines Hall, PO Box 116400, FL, 32611, Gainesville, USA

    Stephen J. Pearton

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Stevens, J.E. (2000). Plasma Fundamentals for Materials Processing. In: Shul, R.J., Pearton, S.J. (eds) Handbook of Advanced Plasma Processing Techniques. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56989-0_2

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