On inductively coupled plasmas for next-generation processing

The electron heating mechanism in ICP is briefly reviewed in the collisionless regime. We suggest a parallel resonance antenna (PRA) that by varying capacitance in a capacitor (C-v) as an external parameter can control not only the antenna current distribution, but also plasma uniformity. Radial plasma uniformity can be controlled and optimized by controlling coil currents between the coil segments, operating pressure, and chamber geometry in a recently developed antenna system. These results are consistent with the previous modeling paper [Appl. Phys. Lett. 77 (2000) 492]. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.