Neutral species densities in an electron cyclotron resonance CF/sub 4/ plasma etching system

Summary form only given. A new procedure for the calculation of neutral transport at long mean-free paths is applied to describing plasma chemistry in a low neutral pressure high plasma density plasma etching reactor. The Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) etching system is run with CF/sub 4/ feed gas at pressures from less than one mTorr to around ten mTorr. In this pressure regime, the mean-free-path of neutral molecules if on the order of the diameter of the system, limiting the application of fluid models. A novel propagator method has been developed which is well suited to the long-mean-free path regime for multiple, interacting and reacting neutral species. The calculation of the propagators allows for various effects such as variable mean-free-path and anisotropic scattering. The effects of truncating the hot tail of the electron distribution function are shown to be relatively small provided the power deposition by electrons into the neutral gas is held constant.