Effect of HF discharge structure on etch nonuniformity in plasma-chemical reactor

Numeric simulation is used to study the effect of the high-frequency (HF) discharge structure on the process of plasma-chemical etching of silicon in a mixture of CF₄/O₂. The calculations are carried out using a mathematical model of a nonisothermal reactor, in which the gas mixture motion was described with the help of equations of multicomponent hydrodynamics, taking into account the convection-diffusion transport of individual mixture components. In order to determine the characteristics of low-temperature plasma the hydrodynamic model of axial-symmetric HF discharge was used, including the continuity equations for electrons and positive ions, the energy balance equation for electrons, and the Poisson equation for electric potential. The effect of the HF discharge structure on the generation and mass exchange of active particles in a plasma-chemical etching reactor is studied.