On uniform plasma generation for the large area plasma processing in intermediate pressures

Abstract

Radial plasma discharge characteristics in the range of 450 mm were studied in a dual inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source, which consisted of a helical ICP and the side type ferrite ICPs. Since the energy relaxation length is shorter than the distance between each of the ferrite ICPs in an intermediate pressure (600 mTorr), local difference in the plasma ignition along the antenna position were observed. In addition, large voltage drop in the discharge of the ferrite ICPs causes an increase in the displacement current to the plasma, and separate discharge mode (E and H mode) according to the antenna position was observed. This results in non-uniform plasma distribution. For the improvement in the discharge of the ferrite ICPs, a capacitor which is placed between the ends of antenna and the ground is adjusted to minimize the displacement current to the plasma. As a result, coincident transitions from E to H mode were observed along the antenna position, and radially concave density profile (edge focused) was measured. For the uniform density distribution, a helical ICP, which located at the center of the discharge chamber, was simultaneously discharged with the ferrite ICPs. Due to the plasma potential variation through the simultaneous discharge of helical ICP and ferrite ICPs, uniform radial distribution in both plasma density and electron temperature are achieved.