Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Analysis of Rarefied Gas Flow Structures and Ventilation of Etching Gas in Magneto-Microwave Plasma Etching Reactors

Gas flows in plasma etching reactors for semiconductor fabrication became a chief consideration in designing second-generation reactors with higher etching rates. An axisymmetrical model based on the direct simulation Monte Carlo method has been developed for analyzing rarefied gas flows in a vacuum chamber with the conditions of downstream pressure and gas flow rate. By using this simulator, rarefied gas flows with radicals and etch-products were calculated for microwave-plasma etching reactors. The results showed that the flow patterns in the plasma chamber strongly depend on the Knudsen number and the gas-supply structure. The ventilation of the etch-products in the plasma chamber was found to be improved both for higher Knudsen numbers and for gas-supply structures of the downward-flow type, as compared with those of the radial-flow or upward-flow types.