Abatement of perfluorocarbons with an inductively coupled plasma reactor

Preliminary tests using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactor to abat e C2F6, CF4, and CHF3 show promising results. In conjunction with this, som e of the operating parameters, which need to be considered when trying to o btain maximum abatement efficiency, are explored. Near 100% destruction eff iciency (DRE) for the persistently fluorinated compounds (PFCs) mentioned e arlier has been achieved with O-2 as the additive gas. Similarly, the abate ment of CF4 with CH4 and/or CH4/O-2 as the additive gas, has shown comparab le results. For the non-CF4 PFCs, like C2F6 and CHF3, the formation of CF4 as an abatement by-product was monitored and shown that it can be controlle d by varying the operating parameters of the ICP reactor. The trends in the DRE observed while manipulating the ICP operating parameters such as ICP p ower, residence time, amount/type of additive gas, and Ar dilution, show ch at there are trade offs which must be taken into account. A quadrupole mass spectrometer was used for analyzing the abatement effluents. (C) 1999 Amer ican Vacuum Society. [S0734-211X(99)15906-7].