Records |
Author |
Bissonnette-Dulude, J.; Heirman, P.; Coulombe, S.; Bogaerts, A.; Gervais, T.; Reuter, S. |
Title |
Coupling the COST reference plasma jet to a microfluidic device: a computational study |
Type |
A1 Journal article |
Year |
2024 |
Publication |
Plasma sources science and technology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. |
Volume |
33 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
015001 |
Keywords |
A1 Journal article; Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine – Antwerp (PLASMANT) |
Abstract |
The use of microfluidic devices in the field of plasma-liquid interaction can unlock unique possibilities to investigate the effects of plasma-generated reactive species for environmental and biomedical applications. So far, very little simulation work has been performed on microfluidic devices in contact with a plasma source. We report on the modelling and computational simulation of physical and chemical processes taking place in a novel plasma-microfluidic platform. The main production and transport pathways of reactive species both in plasma and liquid are modelled by a novel modelling approach that combines 0D chemical kinetics and 2D transport mechanisms. This combined approach, applicable to systems where the transport of chemical species occurs in unidirectional flows at high Péclet numbers, decreases calculation times considerably compared to regular 2D simulations. It takes advantage of the low computational time of the 0D reaction models while providing spatial information through multiple plug-flow simulations to yield a quasi-2D model. The gas and liquid flow profiles are simulated entirely in 2D, together with the chemical reactions and transport of key chemical species. The model correctly predicts increased transport of hydrogen peroxide into the liquid when the microfluidic opening is placed inside the plasma effluent region, as opposed to inside the plasma region itself. Furthermore, the modelled hydrogen peroxide production and transport in the microfluidic liquid differs by less than 50% compared with experimental results. To explain this discrepancy, the limits of the 0D–2D combined approach are discussed. |
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Wos |
001136607100001 |
Publication Date |
2024-01-01 |
Series Editor |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
0963-0252 |
ISBN |
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Additional Links |
UA library record; WoS full record |
Impact Factor |
3.8 |
Times cited |
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Open Access |
Not_Open_Access |
Notes |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, RGPIN-06820 ; FWO, 1100421N ; McGill University, the TransMedTech Institute; |
Approved |
Most recent IF: 3.8; 2024 IF: 3.302 |
Call Number |
PLASMANT @ plasmant @c:irua:202783 |
Serial |
8990 |
Permanent link to this record |
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Author |
Vanraes, P.; Parayil Venugopalan, S.; Besemer, M.; Bogaerts, A. |
Title |
Assessing neutral transport mechanisms in aspect ratio dependent etching by means of experiments and multiscale plasma modeling |
Type |
A1 Journal Article |
Year |
2023 |
Publication |
Plasma Sources Science and Technology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. |
Volume |
32 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
064004 |
Keywords |
A1 Journal Article; Plasma, laser ablation and surface modeling Antwerp (PLASMANT) ; |
Abstract |
Since the onset of pattern transfer technologies for chip manufacturing, various strategies have been developed to circumvent or overcome aspect ratio dependent etching (ARDE). These methods have, however, their own limitations in terms of etch non-idealities, throughput or costs. Moreover, they have mainly been optimized for individual in-device features and die-scale patterns, while occasionally ending up with poor patterning of metrology marks, affecting the alignment and overlay in lithography. Obtaining a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of ARDE and how to mitigate them therefore remains a relevant challenge to date, for both marks and advanced nodes. In this work, we accordingly assessed the neutral transport mechanisms in ARDE by means of experiments and multiscale modeling for SiO<sub>2</sub>etching with CHF<sub>3</sub>/Ar and CF<sub>4</sub>/Ar plasmas. The experiments revealed a local maximum in the etch rate for an aspect ratio around unity, i.e. the simultaneous occurrence of regular and inverse reactive ion etching lag for a given etch condition. We were able to reproduce this ARDE trend in the simulations without taking into account charging effects and the polymer layer thickness, suggesting shadowing and diffuse reflection of neutrals as the primary underlying mechanisms. Subsequently, we explored four methods with the simulations to regulate ARDE, by varying the incident plasma species fluxes, the amount of polymer deposition, the ion energy and angular distribution and the initial hardmask sidewall angle, for which the latter was found to be promising in particular. Although our study focusses on feature dimensions characteristic to metrology marks and back-end-of-the-line integration, the obtained insights have a broader relevance, e.g. to the patterning of advanced nodes. Additionally, this work supports the insight that physisorption may be more important in plasma etching at room temperature than originally thought, in line with other recent studies, a topic on which we recommend further research. |
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Wos |
001021250100001 |
Publication Date |
2023-06-01 |
Series Editor |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
0963-0252 |
ISBN |
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Additional Links |
UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles |
Impact Factor |
3.8 |
Times cited |
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Open Access |
Not_Open_Access |
Notes |
P Vanraes acknowledges funding by ASML for the project ‘Computational simulation of plasma etching of trench structures’. P Vanraes and A Bogaerts want to express their gratitude to Mark J Kushner (University of Michigan) for the sharing of the HPEM and MCFPM codes, and for the interesting exchange of views. P Vanraes wishes to thank Violeta Georgieva and Stefan Tinck for the fruitful discussions on the HPEM code, Yu-Ru Zhang for an example of the CCP reactor code and Karel Venken for his technical help with the server maintenance and use. S P Venugopalan and M Besemer wish to thank Luigi Scaccabarozzi, Sander Wuister, Coen Verschuren, Michael Kubis, Kuan-Ming Chen, Ruben Maas, Huaichen Zhang and Julien Mailfert (ASML) for the insightful discussions. |
Approved |
Most recent IF: 3.8; 2023 IF: 3.302 |
Call Number |
PLASMANT @ plasmant @c:irua:197760 |
Serial |
8811 |
Permanent link to this record |
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Author |
Albrechts, M.; Tsonev, I.; Bogaerts, A. |
Title |
Investigation of O atom kinetics in O2plasma and its afterglow |
Type |
A1 Journal Article |
Year |
2024 |
Publication |
Plasma Sources Science and Technology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. |
Volume |
33 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
045017 |
Keywords |
A1 Journal Article; oxygen plasma, pseudo-1D plug-flow kinetic model, O atoms, low-pressure validation, atmospheric pressure microwave torch; Plasma, laser ablation and surface modeling Antwerp (PLASMANT) ; |
Abstract |
We have developed a comprehensive kinetic model to study the O atom kinetics in an O<sub>2</sub>plasma and its afterglow. By adopting a pseudo-1D plug-flow formalism within the kinetic model, our aim is to assess how far the O atoms travel in the plasma afterglow, evaluating its potential as a source of O atoms for post-plasma gas conversion applications. Since we could not find experimental data for pure O<sub>2</sub>plasma at atmospheric pressure, we first validated our model at low pressure (1–10 Torr) where very good experimental data are available. Good agreement between our model and experiments was achieved for the reduced electric field, gas temperature and the densities of the dominant neutral species, i.e. O<sub>2</sub>(a), O<sub>2</sub>(b) and O. Subsequently, we confirmed that the chemistry set is consistent with thermodynamic equilibrium calculations at atmospheric pressure. Finally, we investigated the O atom densities in the O<sub>2</sub>plasma and its afterglow, for which we considered a microwave O<sub>2</sub>plasma torch, operating at a pressure between 0.1 and 1 atm, for a flow rate of 20 slm and an specific energy input of 1656 kJ mol<sup>−1</sup>. Our results show that for both pressure conditions, a high dissociation degree of ca. 92% is reached within the discharge. However, the O atoms travel much further in the plasma afterglow for<italic>p</italic>= 0.1 atm (9.7 cm) than for<italic>p</italic>= 1 atm (1.4 cm), attributed to the longer lifetime (3.8 ms at 0.1 atm vs 1.8 ms at 1 atm) resulting from slower three-body recombination kinetics, as well as a higher volumetric flow rate. |
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Wos |
001209453500001 |
Publication Date |
2024-04-01 |
Series Editor |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
0963-0252 |
ISBN |
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Additional Links |
UA library record; WoS full record |
Impact Factor |
3.8 |
Times cited |
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Open Access |
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Notes |
This research was supported by the Horizon Europe Framework Program ‘Research and Innovation Actions’ (RIA), Project CANMILK (Grant No. 101069491). |
Approved |
Most recent IF: 3.8; 2024 IF: 3.302 |
Call Number |
PLASMANT @ plasmant @c:irua:205920 |
Serial |
9125 |
Permanent link to this record |