Modeling of Plasma Processing Equipment--Current Trends and Challenges

Plasma modeling is a critical technology for the design of industrial plasma processing systems. Plasma processes are increasingly being extended to the sub-20 mTorr regime in the microelectronics industry, requiring accurate plasma models in the low pressure regime. Simultaneously, economic considerations are imposing stringent requirements on plasma uniformity over large substrates and plasma modeling is expected to address these uniformity challenges. These trends are necessitating good theoretical understanding in low temperature plasmas of (a) kinetic phenomena at low pressures and (b) the complex interplay between plasma, electromagnetic, chemical and fluid dynamics phenomena in three dimensions. Several fluid and particle-in-cell models are used in this paper to address issues of importance to the design and use of plasma etching and deposition systems.