Properties of the plasma produced by multi-cathode electron beam plasma sources

A new plasma source using the multi-cathode electron beam has been designed and manufactured. A multi-cathode was adopted to produce bulk plasmas in a large volume. Multi-cathode electron beam plasma source (MCEBPS) was found to generate stable plasmas over the wafer diameter of 300 mm or above in a low pressure regime. Over a 320 mm diameter, both the plasma potential V-p and floating potential V-f were uniformly maintained and the difference be tween V-p and V-f was small. The electron temperature was also sustained lo w. The plasma density was around 10(10) cm(-3) and its variation along the radial distance was small. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserv ed.