Electron temperature and density variation due to temporal evolution of nano particle growth in RE silane plasma

Abstract

Nano particles, generated in various processing plasmas, have been extensively studied for applications in the fabrication of microelectronics devices. However, studies to find the relation between the particle parameters (particle size and density) and the plasma parameters (electron temperature and density) have been limited because of the availability of the appropriate diagnostic method. The utilization of Langmuir probes are limited in many cases due to the probe tip contamination and the presence of abundant negative ions and particles. In this work, measurements of electron temperature and ion density were performed in rf silane plasmas using a floating probe1, which allows an accurate measurement even under harsh plasma environments. The size and density of nano particles were measured by the laser light scattering and the laser extinction method at various gas pressures. It was found that the temporal evolution of the particle growth played a significant role in changing the plasma parameters due to the electron and ion fluxes to the particles. The relation between the plasma parameters and the particle parameters was described by a power balance equation including the power loss to the particle surface.