A new microwave-excited plasma source using an internal dielectric microwave applicator

Microwave plasma is widely used for plasma processing, especially plasma chemistry and chemical dry etching. Its main advantages are operation at wide pressure ranges, low plasma potentials, absence of high-energy ion flax at the substrate and chamber walls, relatively small damage at the processed surface and clean plasma environment provided by the absence of extensive wall abrasion. However, standing-wave mode jumps make continuous plasma density control problematic. The present contribution reports one effective solution to this problem: a mode-jump free internal dielectric microwave applicator.