Real time measurement of transients and electrode edge effects for plasma charging induced damage

Abstract

Plasma charging behavior is monitored in-situ by a newly developed wafer charging probe. Both charging voltage measurements and damage studies show that more charging is evident near the electrode edge even without the presence of any magnetic fields. Moreover, plasma charging is seen to consist of both transient and steady state components. Both plasma turn-on and turn-off can cause short term transients due to nonuniformity by plasma initiation and termination. The steady state charging voltage is strongly affected by gas composition, pressure and rf power.