Effect of dual frequency on the plasma characteristics in an internal linear inductively coupled plasma source

An internal-type linear inductive antenna, referred to as a double comb-type antenna, was used as a large area plasma source with a substrate size of 880x660 mm(2) (fourth generation glass size). The effects of the dual frequency (2 and 13.56 MHz) radio frequency (rf) power to the antenna as well as the power ratio on the plasma characteristics were investigated. High-density plasma on the order of 1.7x10(11) cm(-3) could be obtained with a dual frequency power of 5 kW (13.56 MHz) and 1 kW (2 MHz) at a pressure of 15 mTorr Ar. This plasma density was lower than that obtained for the double comb-type antenna using a single frequency alone (5 kW, 13.56 MHz). However, the use of the dual frequency with a rf power ratio of approximately 1(2 MHz):5(13.56 MHz) showed better plasma uniformity than that obtained using the single frequency. Plasma uniformity of 6.1% could be obtained over the substrate area. Simulations using FL2L code confirmed the improvement in the plasma uniformity using the dual frequency to the double comb-type antenna. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.