Low pressure semiconductor processing transport property modeling using Direct Simulation Monte Carlo

In order to develop a plasma simulation code that is capable of modeling the Ionized Metal Physical Vapor Deposition (IMPVD) process with increasingly lower operating pressure conditions, the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is used to simulate the heavy particle species in a hollow cathode magnetron (HCM) plasma reactor, a device used to implement the IMPVD technology. Presently, the DSMC simulation's initial conditions are taken from the steady state results of the Hybrid Plasma Equipment Model (HPEM), a code with the fluid model for heavy particles that has been previously applied in modeling HCM devices. Electrostatic and magnetostatic field, and the source functions for electron impact (EI) reactions are provided by HPEM as input to DSMC. Particle collisions, surface collisions, and reactive collisions are modeled in DSMC, and the Lorentz force on ions is modeled as well, based on the background E and B field. The heating of the neutral species due to collisions with Ar⁺ and the heating of Ar⁺ due to the electrostatic field are captured by the DSMC simulations. Ar* and Ar⁺ number density spatial distributions predicted by the DSMC also demonstrate the effect of EI reactions, but directly coupling with a Poisson solver is required in order to obtain quantitative agreement.