Generation and Applications of a Broad Atomic Oxygen Beam with a High Flux-Density via Collision-Induced Dissociation of O₂

Abstract

We detail the generation of a pulsed atomic oxygen (AO) broad beam with a high flux-density via collision-induced dissociation of O ₂ to support practical industrial exploitation of AOs, particularly for facilitating 2-dimenstional oxidation/etching at a fast rate of one-monolayer per second in an area ≥ 1000 cm ². This innovation fuses the following interdisciplinary concepts: (a) a high density of O ⁺ can be produced in an electron-cyclotron-resonance (ECR) O ₂ plasma; (b) O ⁺ can be extracted and accelerated with an aperture-electrode in the plasma; (c) O ⁺ with adequate kinetic energy can initiate a cascade of gas-phase collisions in the presence of O ₂; (d) collision-induced dissociation of O ₂ yields AOs with adequate kinetic energy which can cause additional collision-induced dissociation of O ₂. Computational simulations of such collisions, with both  ab initio molecular dynamics and direct simulation Monte Carlo methods, are used to guide the experimental generation of the proposed AO-beam. We experimentally demonstrate the highest known AO mean flux-density of about 1.5 × 10 ¹⁶ atoms·cm ^-2·s ^-1 in a broad-beam, and use it to oxidatively modify a self-assembled molecular layer of siloxane on a silicon wafer. In addition, we also demonstrate the growth of Al ₂O ₃ through an AO-assisted atomic layer deposition process at room temperature.

Keywords

Collision / Atomic oxygen / Ab initio calculations / Ion-molecule reactions / Gas-phase reactions

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