Spatially and temporally resolved laser-induced fluorescence measurements of CF2 and CF radicals in a CF4 rf plasma

Abstract

Laser-induced fluorescence has been used to examine the temporal behavior of ground-state CF2 and CF radicals in a CF4 plasma etching reactor. We also report the measured spatial dependencies of the radical concentrations, and develop a rigorous model for their interpretation. The results indicate that for CF2 and CF, wall removal processes are dominant at low pressures of the order of 50 mTorr, and that CF is not produced by electron impact dissociation of CF2.