Presidential Young Investigators Award

分子气体等离子体目前广泛应用于微电子工业中，用于沉积和刻蚀固体薄膜。等离子体化学反应器的设计在很大程度上是经验的，因为在沉积和蚀刻过程中发生的许多过程还没有被很好地理解。这些过程包括：产生电场，将电子加速到非常高的能量，这些电子与中性分子反应生成自由基，以及自由基与固体表面的反应，在固体表面上沉积新的表面或从其上去除(蚀刻)一个或多个固体层。这个项目的目的是阐明这些机制，这些信息最终将用于等离子体反应堆的设计。格雷夫斯博士已经在等离子体化学反应器领域建立了一个积极的研究计划。他计划在这笔赠款下实施以下项目：(1)激光烧蚀材料，例如，用于高温超导薄膜沉积。他计划结合激光光谱学、光学发射光谱学和质谱学来检测被烧蚀的物种及其温度。(2)将使用等离子体表面相互作用的计算机模拟来解决暴露在低温等离子体表面上的影响。(3)氟碳和氯碳等离子体腐蚀硅和砷化镓中粒子形成的研究。(4)模拟微波维持和磁增强等离子体作为传统射频、电容耦合等离子体反应堆的替代品。这项工作将被用来阐明它们如何以及为什么表现出改进的蚀刻和沉积特性。(5)用表面分析工具研究等离子体腔内的表面成分和结构。这笔赠款是为了在国家科学基金会的青年研究人员奖计划下为David B.Graves博士提供研究支持。

Molecular gas plasmas are currently widely used in the micreelectronics industry for the deposition and etching of thin solid films. Plasma chemical reactor design is largely empirical at this time because the many processes occurring during deposition and etching are not well understood. These processes include: creating an electric field which accelaerates electrons to very high energies, reaction of these electrons with neutral molecules to create free radicals, and reaction of the free radicals with the solid surfaces on which a new surface is deposited or from which one or more solid layers is removed (etched). This project is aimed at elucidating these mechanisms, the information to be ultimately used in the design of plasma reactors. Dr. Graves has already established an active research program in the area of plasma chemical reactors. He plans to implement the following projects under this grant: (1) Laser ablation of materials is used, for example, for high temperature superconducting film deposition. He plans a combination of laser spectroscopy, optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry to detect ablated species and their temperatures. (2) Computer simulation of plasma surface interactions will be used to resolve effects that occur at surfaces exposed to low temperature plasmas. (3) A study of particle formation in fluorocarbon and chlorocarbon plasmas etching silicon and gallium arsenide. (4) Simulation of microwave-sustained and magnetically enhanced plasmas used as a replacement for conventional radio frequency, capacitively coupled plasma reactors. The work will be used to elucidate how and why they show improved etch and deposition characteristics. (5) Study of surface composition and structure in a plasma chamber by using surface analytical tools. This grant is to provide research support for Dr. David B. Graves under the National Science Foundation's Young Investigator Awards Program.