Impact of small deviations in EEDF on silane-based plasma chemistry

In this work, we emphasize the importance of using a correct Electron Energy Distribution Function (EEDF) to model chemical reactions in High-Density (HD) low-pressure silane-containing plasmas. We have modeled chemical reactions in Ar-SiH4-N2O- (N2-H2-O2) Inductively Coupled Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (ICPECVD) system, intended for deposition of silicon oxide and silicon nitride layers. For the modeling, we used the experimentally measured EEDF, deviating from the Maxwell-Boltzmann (MB) EEDF. We demonstrate that the use of an inappropriate (i.e. MB in our example) EEDF, only slightly deviating from the experimental (i.e. actual) distribution, could lead to significant discrepancies (1-2 orders of magnitude) between the calculated and actual radical densities.