Simulation of plasma processes for microelectronic fabrication

An approach is presented which allows to predict important characteristics of plasma based surface modification techniques like reactive ion etching ( RIE), plasma etching (PE), ionized metal vapor deposition (IPVD), or plasma enhanced physical vapor deposition (PECVD). In a first step, the electrica l field in the vicinity of the substrate is calculated by means of a self-c onsistent plasma boundary sheath model. In a second step, this field is use d to calculate the energy and angular distribution of the ions impinging th e surface. The knowledge of this distribution allows a more realistic predi ction of essential process properties like the maximum aspect ratio of an e tch process, or the obtainable conformality of a deposition step.