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Mass spectrometry at a Ar/SF 6 /O 2 chemically reactive plasma jet
Author(s) -
Arnold Th.,
Schindler A.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.200778339
Subject(s) - chemistry , mass spectrometry , plasma , dissociation (chemistry) , analytical chemistry (journal) , radical , chemical composition , plasma etching , mass spectrum , reactive ion etching , silicon , electron ionization , etching (microfabrication) , ion , ionization , environmental chemistry , organic chemistry , chromatography , physics , quantum mechanics , layer (electronics)
Chemically reactive plasma jets are tools for the treatment of surfaces with respect to material removal, deposition, and chemical modification. The plasma under investigation is created by introducing microwave power into a Ar/SF 6 /O 2 subsonic gas flow to produce chemically reactive species for dry etching. In Ar/SF 6 /O 2 plasma jets chemical reactions induced by electron impact form a large variety of SF x and SO x F y radicals as well as free fluorine atoms. Low potential mass spectrometry was used to investigate the spatial structure of the plasma jet depending on gas composition. The mass spectra give information about different characteristic zones, which can be designated as the active and passive plasma zone, i.e. the dissociation and recombination zone, respectively. The knowledge of the kind of plasma‐chemical mechanisms and their spatial distributions is necessary to optimize gas composition and geometric parameters for effective silicon based material etching. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)