Abstract: We investigate the effects of the configurations of the chamber and the coil of an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etcher and the process parameters on the homogeneity of plasma distribution.Using the modules of plasma,electromagnetic field,etc.in the commercial software CFD-ACE+,a two-dimensional discharge model of an ICP etcher was built.The spatial distributions of the electron temperature Te and the electron number density ne of argon plasma were simulated at 10mTorr,200W,and 200sccm.One-dimensional distribution profiles of the plasma parameters above the wafer's surface at different pressures and powers were compared.These results demonstrate that ne increases with both pressure and power,and Te decreases with pressure,and decreases at first but then increases with power in a lesser range.A shielding slab can be used to enhance the plasma density through analyzing its effect on plasma parameters.Furthermore,the results show that Te increases but ne decreases with the porosity of the shielding slab.

Key words: dry etching process, inductively coupled plasma, electron number density, electron temperature