Database Needs for Modeling and Simulation of Plasma Processing

In spite of its high cost and technical importance, plasma equipment is still largely designed empirically, with little help from computer simulation. Plasma process control is rudimentary. Optimization of plasma reactor operation, including adjustments to deal with increasingly stringent controls on plant emissions, is performed predominantly by trial and error. There is now a strong and growing economic incentive to improve on the traditional methods of plasma reactor and process design, optimization, and control. An obvious strategy for both chip manufacturers and plasma equipment suppliers is to employ large-scale modeling and simulation. The major roadblock to further development of this promising strategy is the lack of a database for the many physical and chemical processes that occur in the plasma. The data that are currently available are often scattered throughout the scientific literature, and assessments of their reliability are usually unavailable. Database Needs for Modeling and Simulation of Plasma Processing identifies strategies to add data to the existing database, to improve access to the database, and to assess the reliability of the available data. In addition to identifying the most important needs, this report assesses the experimental and theoretical/computational techniques that can be used, or must be developed, in order to begin to satisfy these needs. Table of Contents Front Matter FINDINGS CONCLUSIONS RECOMMENDATIONS REFERENCES PLASMA PROCESSING FOR SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING PLASMA EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER PERSPECTIVES CHIP MANUFACTURER PERSPECTIVES RECOMMENDED PRIORITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF AN IMPROVED DATABASE REFERENCES TOOL SCALE MODELS Barriers to Using Tool Scale Models FEATURE SCALE MODELS GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF MODELING STATE OF THE ART AND VISION OF FUTURE CAPABILITY AND IMPLIED NEEDS REFERENCES TECHNIQUES FOR MEASUREMENTS OF GAS PHASE SPECIES Information Resources Roles of the Database In Motivating Diagnostic Experiments SURFACE REACTION DATABASE AND DIAGNOSTICS New Diagnostic Techniques FINDINGS REFERENCES STATE OF THE DATABASE Incident Flux and Desorbing Flux Analysis Condition of the Surface Particle Beams Substrate Temperature Dependence FINDINGS REFERENCES Molecules Neutral Dissociation MOMENTUM TRANSFER, SWARM, AND DISCHARGE MEASUREMENTS GENERAL COMMENTS REFERENCES INTRODUCTION Ion-Molecule and Charge Exchange Reactions Ion-Ion Neutralization Neutral Chemistry Status of the Database Excited State Chemistry and Penning Ionization Summary THERMOCHEMICAL DATA REFERENCES Appendix A: Acronyms and Abbreviations Appendix B: Workshop Agenda Appendix C: Workshop Participants