Parallel 2D axisymmetric fluid modeling of CF₄ discharge in an inductively coupled plasma source during SiO₂ etching

A parallel 2D axisymmetric plasma fluid modeling for an inductively coupled plasma source with tetrafluoromethane precursor is reported. In total, 32 species with 96 gas-phase and 27 surface reactions with site-balance equations are considered. The predicted results of major species densities are in reasonable agreement with reported experiments. The etching products, e.g. SiF_x and O₂, are found to be appreciable (∼10%) compared to the precursor near the substrate. The predicted density trends, such as CF_x⁺ and CF_x (x = 1-3), are also consistent with reported experiments. Finally, the predicted etching rate on the SiO ₂ substrate is presented and discussed in detail. A numerical study demonstrates a successful framework of chamber-scale plasma processing employing detailed gas-phase and surface chemistry via high-performance parallel computing. The predicted densities in plasma are consistent with experiments and can be used to estimate the etching rate and uniformity for different kinds of operating conditions.