Plasma systems

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

PlasCon HCD

13.56 MHz hollow cathode plasma system

            


 

Applications:

  • plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD)
  • plasma polymerisation
  • surface modification
  • plasma cleaning
  • plasma etching
  • reactive and non-reactive ion etching
  • material science (in general)

 

features:

  • planar HCD plasma source (similar to HCD-P 100) producing high plasma and radical densities. 48 plasma jets arranged in a hexagonal matrix of 15 cm in diameter,
  • HCD plasma source with proprietary compact gas distribution system (primary gas, monomer) featuring fractal geometry gas channels,
  • rf biased, water cooled substrate holder to accomodate wafers of up to 5" diameter, to control the ion energy (resistively heated susbtrate holder is available optionally),
  • vacuum chamber design and gas distribution system of the HCD plasma source optimized via computational flow dynamics (CFD) simulation,
  • synchronized rf-power coupling to the planar HCD plasma source and substrate holder for better process stability and control,
  • time-modulated power coupling for a more selective plasma chemistry and plasma particle energy control.
     

Other important technical features of PlasCon HCD are :

  • substrate holder can be moved vertically (chamber vented) for easy loading and unloading by motorized stage
  • vacuum system consisting of 250 m3/h roots blower with rotary backing pump, DN 63 ISO-K pumping port, special pumping ring geometry for an azimuthally homogeneous gas flow,
  • 4 flow controllers (optionally up to 8), throttle valve and Baratron vacuum gauge for independent pressure and flow control,
  • all chamber, plasma source and substrate holder parts in contact with the plasma are made of aluminum.
  • vacuum chamber is equipped with five DN 40 KF vacuum ports for easy diagnostic access.
  • Distance plasma source - substrate holder : 6 cm (standard), this distance can be increased by adding distance rings of differernt heights
All chamber, plasma source and substrate holder parts in contact with the plasma are made of aluminum, which has good thermal conductivity. Furthermore, aluminum has a rather low surface loss rate of excited species and raicals. The source can be operated isothermically by adjusting the cooling water temperature.

 

Technical data:

HCD Plasma source and  RF biasable substrate holder

Frequency:       13.56 MHz

RF-power (max): 700 W (HCD)

                          500 W (substrate holder))

Matching:           automatic

Pressure range:  0.05 - 10 mbar

Gases:                process gas,  monomer gas

Gas flow rates:    > 500 sccm, depending on pumping system

Plasma density    5 x 1011 cm-3 (Ar, 1 mbar)

Temperature control: water cooled or controlled by thermo-controller

 

Application note: