Low Pressure Plasmas and Microstructuring Technology

This monograph presents an up to date perspective of gas discharge physics and its applications to various industries. It starts from a comprehensive overview of the different types to generate plasmas by DC discharges, capacitive and inductive radiofrequency coupling, helicon waves including electron cyclotron resonance, and ion beams. To compare these theories with inert plasmas, a fundamental description of plasma diagnostics is presented on the basis of four prominent methods and extended to reactive plasmas.The second part extensively deals with the interaction of these plasmas with surfaces in order to coat or to etch them with reactive gases. Main topics are sputtering, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, and reactive ion etching. The difficulties which had to be overcome to reach the next technological node in the semiconductor map are documented by a long row of microfeatures. These processes and corresponding microscopic mechanisms are discussed in the final section of this part. In the concluding third part, various fundamental derivations are minutely extended which are required for a deep understanding of the plasma processes.

In retrospect, the semiconductor industry has triggered the development of new methods to excite plasmas. But it was now the industrial part to operate these plasmas with reactive gases. As a result of this combined effort, surface modifications with plasmas are now in widespread use even in low-cost applications due to its easy and convenient implantation as well as its favorable environmental impact.

Zusammenfassung
Over the last forty years, plasma supported processes have attracted ever - creasing interest, and now, all modern semiconductor devices undergo at least one plasma-involved processing step, starting from surface cleaning via coating to etching. In total, the range of the treated substrates covers some orders of magnitude: Trenches and linewidths of commercially available devices have - ready passed the boundary of 100 nm, decorative surface treatment will happen 2 in the mm range, and the upper limit is reached with surface protecting layers of windows which are coated with ?/4 layers against IR radiation. The rapid development of the semiconductor industry is inconceivable wi- outthegiantprogressintheplasmatechnology.Moore'slawisnotcarvedinto 1 stone, and not only the ITRS map is subject to change every ?ve years but also new branches develop and others mingle together. Moreover, the quality of conventional materials can be improved by plasma treatment:Cottonbecomesmorecrease-resistant,leathermoredurable,andthe shrinking of wool ?bers during the washing process can be signi?cantly reduced. To cut a long story short: More than 150 years after the discovery of the sputtering e?ect by Grove, plasma-based processes are about to spread out into new ?elds of research and application [1]no wonder that the market for etching machines kept growing by an annual rate of 17 % up to the burst of the internet bubble, and it took only some years of recovery to continue the voyage [2].

Inhalt
Collisions and cross sections.- The plasma.- DC discharges.- High-frequency discharges I.- High-frequency discharges II.- High-frequency discharges III.- Ion beam systems.- Plasma diagnostics.- Plasma deposition processes.- Plasma etch processes.- Etch Mechanisms.- Outlook.- Advanced Topics.