Lieberman Chemically reactive plasma discharges are widely used in the semiconductor and fiat panel display indus-tries for etching and deposition processes; moreover, their use has become critical for VLSI circuit and thin film transistor (TFT) production. High density rf inductively coupled plasma sources will play an increasing role in processing as feature sizes shrink and as wafer and TFT substrate sizes increase. This proposal is for continuation of research on such discharges. The program involves (a) experiments and analytical models for a large area plasma source (LAPS) that is inductively excited by an rf traveling wave launched onto an antenna coil embedded within the plasma volume, and (b) theories and experiments to examine equilibrium, hysteresis, and unstable behavior in inductively coupled plasma sources with electronegative gas feedstocks. The LAPS has favorable properties for scaling to large sizes. Plasma in the source is generated in a rectangular box 71.1 cm x 61.0 cm x 20.3 cm containing a substrate holder large enough to study processing of silicon wafers as large as 300 mm in diameter and fiat panel glass substrate sizes as large as 360 mm x 465 mm. A critical issue to be examined in the experiments is whether traveling wave excitation of a coil embedded in the plasma can generate uniform plasmas and materials processing over large areas. The studies of electronegative discharge equilibrium, hysteresis, and instabilities will be performed in a planar inductive discharge (transformer-coupled plasma, or TCP) of the conventional type used for VLSI processing. Feedstock gases for etch applications will be used, including chlorine, oxygen, SF6, and their mixtures with argon. ***
