Engineering topics

Persing, Harold

Publications and source records attributed to Persing, Harold.

4 records

DOE OSTI2015

Comparison of surface vacuum ultraviolet emissions with resonance level number densities. II. Rare-gas plasmas and Ar-molecular gas mixtures

Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) emissions from excited plasma species can play a variety of roles in processing plasmas, including damaging the surface properties of materials used in semiconductor processing. Depending on their wavelength, VUV photons can easily transmit thin upper dielectric layers and affect the electrical characteristics of the devices. Despite their importance, measuring VUV fluxes is complicated by the fact that few materials transmit at VUV wavelengths, and both detectors and windows are easily damaged by plasma exposure. The authors have previously reported on measuring VUV fluxes in pure argon plasmas by monitoring the concentrations of Ar(3p{sup 5}4s) resonance atoms that produce the VUV emissions using noninvasive optical emission spectroscopy in the visible/near-infrared wavelength range [Boffard et al., J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A 32, 021304 (2014)]. Here, the authors extend this technique to other rare-gases (Ne, Kr, and Xe) and argon-molecular gas plasmas (Ar/H{sub 2}, Ar/O{sub 2}, and Ar/N{sub 2}). Results of a model for VUV emissions that couples radiation trapping and the measured rare-gas resonance level densities are compared to measurements made with both a calibrated VUV photodiode and a sodium salicylate fluorescence detection scheme. In these more complicated gas mixtures, VUV emissions from a variety of sources beyond the principal resonance levels of the rare gases are found to contribute to the total VUV flux.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2014

Comparison of surface vacuum ultraviolet emissions with resonance level number densities. I. Argon plasmas

Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons emitted from excited atomic states are ubiquitous in material processing plasmas. The highly energetic photons can induce surface damage by driving surface reactions, disordering surface regions, and affecting bonds in the bulk material. In argon plasmas, the VUV emissions are due to the decay of the 1s{sub 4} and 1s{sub 2} principal resonance levels with emission wavelengths of 104.8 and 106.7 nm, respectively. The authors have measured the number densities of atoms in the two resonance levels using both white light optical absorption spectroscopy and radiation-trapping induced changes in the 3p{sup 5}4p→3p{sup 5}4s branching fractions measured via visible/near-infrared optical emission spectroscopy in an argon inductively coupled plasma as a function of both pressure and power. An emission model that takes into account radiation trapping was used to calculate the VUV emission rate. The model results were compared to experimental measurements made with a National Institute of Standards and Technology-calibrated VUV photodiode. The photodiode and model results are in generally good accord and reveal a strong dependence on the neutral gas temperature.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2013

Noninvasive, real-time measurements of plasma parameters via optical emission spectroscopy

Plasma process control applications require acquisition of diagnostic data at a rate faster than the characteristic timescale of perturbations to the plasma. Diagnostics based on optical emission spectroscopy of intense emission lines permit rapid noninvasive measurements with low-resolution ({approx}1 nm), fiber-coupled spectrographs, which are included on many plasma process tools for semiconductor processing. Here the authors report on rapid analysis of Ar emissions with such a system to obtain electron temperatures, electron densities, and metastable densities in argon and argon/mixed-gas (Ar/N{sub 2}, Ar/O{sub 2}, Ar/H{sub 2}) inductively coupled plasmas. Accuracy of the results (compared to measurements made by Langmuir probe and white-light absorption spectroscopy) are typically better than {+-}15% with a time resolution of 0.1 s, which is more than sufficient to capture the transient behavior of many processes, limited only by the time response of the spectrograph used.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2012

Plasma process optimization for N-type doping applications

Plasma doping (PLAD) has been adopted across the implant technology space and into high volume production for both conventional DRAM and NAND doping applications. PLAD has established itself as an alternative to traditional ion implantation by beamline implantation. The push for high doping concentration, shallow doping depth, and conformal doping capability expand the need for a PLAD solution to meet such requirements. The unique doping profile and doping characteristics at high dose rates allow for PLAD to deliver a high throughput, differentiated solution to meet the demand of evolving transistor technology. In the PLAD process, ions are accelerated to the wafer as with a negative wafer bias applied to the wafer. Competing mechanisms, such as deposition, sputtering, and etching inherent in plasma doping require unique control and process optimization. In this work, we look at the distinctive process tool control and characterization features which enable an optimized doping process using n-type (PH{sub 3} or AsH{sub 3}) chemistries. The data in this paper will draw the relationship between process optimization through plasma chemistry study to the wafer level result.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗