SBIR Phase I: Computational Tool for Plasma Equipment Design Using a Non-Statistical Boltzmann Solver

SBIR 第一阶段：使用非统计玻尔兹曼求解器进行等离子体设备设计的计算工具

• 批准号: 9960333
• 负责人: Vladimir Kolobov
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: CFD RESEARCH CORPORATION
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-01-01 至 2000-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9960333&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Computational; Tool; Plasma

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a CAD tool for plasma equipment/ processes using a non-statistical Boltzmann solver for the analysis of charged particle kinetics. Currently used hydrodynamic models lack the necessary physics while the statistical (Monte Carlo) methods are too expensive for practical use. The proposed Boltzmann solver will enable precise yet affordable description of low-pressure plasma reactors for semiconductor manufacturing. The innovative aspects of the research include, (i) development of an elliptic representation of the velocity distribution function (VDF) valid for arbitrary anisotropy of the VDF, (ii) incorporation of the recently discovered hot plasma effects, and (iii) integration of the Boltzmann solver with a commercial software, CFD-ACE+, to enable simulations of industrial plasma systems. The elliptic representation reduces the Boltzmann equation to a set of two coupled equations in a four-dimensional space which can be solved by well-established techniques. In Phase I, the feasibility of the approach will be demonstrated on selected systems with small anisotropy of the VDF. The Phase II work will focus on extending the model to problems with arbitrary VDF anisotropy and on validation against experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations of industrial plasma reactors.The CFD-ACE+ software, with the addition of the Boltzmann solver, will be capable of kinetic modeling of low pressure plasma processing reactors. The use of this software will significantly reduce design cycle times/costs for developing new equipment/processes for IC fabrication. Additionally, this tool will be used to analyze and optimize charge transport in deep sub-micron semiconductor devices.

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一种用于等离子体设备/工艺的CAD工具，使用非统计的Boltzmann求解器来分析带电粒子动力学。目前使用的流体力学模型缺乏必要的物理基础，而统计(蒙特卡罗)方法过于昂贵，难以实际应用。建议的波尔兹曼求解器将使半导体制造用的低压等离子体反应堆能够精确而又负担得起的描述。这项研究的创新方面包括：(I)开发了速度分布函数(VDF)的椭圆表示，该表示适用于VDF的任意各向异性；(Ii)结合了最近发现的热等离子体效应；以及(Iii)Boltzmann求解器与商业软件CFD-ACE+的集成，以实现对工业等离子体系统的模拟。椭圆表示将Boltzmann方程简化为四维空间中的两个耦合方程，可以用成熟的技术求解。在第一阶段，将在VDF各向异性较小的选定系统上演示该方法的可行性。第二阶段的工作将集中于将模型扩展到具有任意VDF各向异性的问题，并针对实验数据和工业等离子体反应堆的蒙特卡罗模拟进行验证。CFD-ACE+软件加上Boltzmann求解器，将能够对低压等离子体处理反应堆进行动力学建模。该软件的使用将大大缩短开发IC制造新设备/工艺的设计周期时间/成本。此外，该工具还将用于分析和优化深亚微米半导体器件中的电荷传输。