Technical Papers and Presentations

Plasma chambers used for semi-conductor processing are complex machines involving high power inputs and intricate reaction chemistry during operation. Consequently, components of these chambers undergo extreme thermal and mechanical stresses, along with erosion and other forms of damage. Commonly used inductively coupled plasma chambers often include a ceramic window separating the plasma chamber from the electrical coil enclosure, thus preventing direct exposure of the electrical coils to plasma. Owing to the unique location of the ceramic plate, where it is sandwiched between the electrical coils and plasma, high amounts of heat generated in the plasma is transferred to the ceramic window. Optimal design of the ceramic window and allied cooling systems must account for this heat-flux to the ceramic window. Calorimetry experiments used to determine heat flux to the chamber components have a run-time of several days. This project aims to develop a time and cost-efficient modeling solution to estimate ceramic window heat-flux as an alternative to calorimetry experiments. Results demonstrate COMSOL can provide fast estimates of heat-flux in plasma chambers and further highlight the significant contribution of surface reactions to ceramic window heat-flux.