2D fluid model analysis for the effect of 3D gas flow on a capacitively coupled plasma deposition reactor

The wide applicability of capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) deposition has increased the interest in developing comprehensive numerical models, but CCP imposes a tremendous computational cost when conducting a transient analysis in a three-dimensional (3D) model which reflects the real geometry of reactors. In particular, the detailed flow features of reactive gases induced by 3D geometric effects need to be considered for the precise calculation of radical distribution of reactive species. Thus, an alternative inclusive method for the numerical simulation of CCP deposition is proposed to simulate a two-dimensional (2D) CCP model based on the 3D gas flow results by simulating flow, temperature, and species fields in a 3D space at first without calculating the plasma chemistry. A numerical study of a cylindrical showerhead-electrode CCP reactor was conducted for particular cases of SiH4/NH3/N2/He gas mixture to deposit a hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiNxHy) film. The proposed methodology produces numerical results for a 300 mm wafer deposition reactor which agree very well with the deposition rate profile measured experimentally along the wafer radius.