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Computer modelling and experimental validation of plasmas and plasma- surface interactions, for a deep insight in cryogenic etching

Objective

Microchips have caused a revolution in electronics over the last few decades. Following Moore's law, much effort has been put into continuously shrinking electronic feature dimensions. Indeed, typical feature sizes of semi-conductor decreased from 10 µm in 1971 to 14 nm in 2014. With the shrinkage of feature sizes, plasma etching plays a more and more important role due to its anisotropy during surface processing.
However, to go beyond 14 nm features, current state-of-the-art plasma processing faces significant challenges, such as plasma induced damage. Recently, one such novel process with limited plasma damage is cryogenic etching of low-k material with SF6/O2/SiF4 and CxFy plasmas.
In this project, the fundamental mechanisms of the plasma, and its interaction with the surface, for these gas mixtures, will be studied to improve cryogenic plasma etching.
For this purpose, numerical models (a hybrid Monte Carlo - fluid model and molecular dynamics model) will be employed to describe (i) the plasma behavior for SF6/O2/SiF4 and CxFy gas mixtures applied for cryogenic etching, and (ii) the surface interactions of the plasma species with the substrate during etching.
Furthermore, cryogenic etch experiments will also be conducted to validate the modeling results during the secondment. Such an interdisciplinary project, including chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer modeling and chemical engineering, will definitely widen the applicant’s expertise in different plasma investigation approaches.

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MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2015

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITEIT ANTWERPEN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 160 800,00
Address
PRINSSTRAAT 13
2000 Antwerpen
Belgium

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Region
Vlaams Gewest Prov. Antwerpen Arr. Antwerpen
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 160 800,00
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