Atmospheric pressure plasma chemical vapor deposition reactor for 100 mm wafers, optimized for minimum contamination at low gas flow rates

Anand, Venu and Nair, Aswathi R and Shivashankar, SA and Rao, Mohan G (2015) Atmospheric pressure plasma chemical vapor deposition reactor for 100 mm wafers, optimized for minimum contamination at low gas flow rates. In: APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 107 (9).

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Abstract

Gas discharge plasmas used for thinfilm deposition by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) must be devoid of contaminants, like dust or active species which disturb the intended chemical reaction. In atmospheric pressure plasma systems employing an inert gas, the main source of such contamination is the residual air inside the system. To enable the construction of an atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) system with minimal contamination, we have carried out fluid dynamic simulation of the APP chamber into which an inert gas is injected at different mass flow rates. On the basis of the simulation results, we have designed and built a simple, scaled APP system, which is capable of holding a 100 mm substrate wafer, so that the presence of air (contamination) in the APP chamber is minimized with as low a flow rate of argon as possible. This is examined systematically by examining optical emission from the plasma as a function of inert gas flow rate. It is found that optical emission from the plasma shows the presence of atmospheric air, if the inlet argon flow rate is lowered below 300 sccm. That there is minimal contamination of the APP reactor built here, was verified by conducting an atmospheric pressure PECVD process under acetylene flow, combined with argon flow at 100 sccm and 500 sccm. The deposition of a polymer coating is confirmed by infrared spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the polymer coating contains only 5% of oxygen, which is comparable to the oxygen content in polymer deposits obtained in low-pressure PECVD systems. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS
Publisher:	AMER INST PHYSICS
Additional Information:	Copy right for this article belongs to the AMER INST PHYSICS, 1305 WALT WHITMAN RD, STE 300, MELVILLE, NY 11747-4501 USA
Department/Centre:	Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences > Centre for Nano Science and Engineering Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Instrumentation Appiled Physics
Date Deposited:	09 Oct 2015 04:37
Last Modified:	09 Oct 2015 04:37
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/52511

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