Materials processing in nonequilibrium plasmas

Nonequilibrium plasmas (glow discharges) are extensively used in the fabrication of microelectronic devices because of their ability to create ions and radical species at low temperatures. Typically weakly ionized plasmas in the 1 to 1000 mTorr pressure range are used to deposit or selectively remove (etch) material. Extensive chemical reactions proceed in the gas phase on the surfaces in contact with the discharge complicating the modeling of these processes well beyond that of the discharge physics. In this paper, the applications of plasma processes are reviewed and the status of discharge modeling discussed