A gas phase kinetic model combined to a 3D atomic etching model have been
developed to study the etching process of InP under Cl2-Ar ICP plasma
discharge. A gas phase global kinetic model is used to calculate the
reactive particle fluxes implied in the etching mechanisms. The 3D atomic
InP etching model is based on the Monte Carlo kinetic approach where the
plasma surface interactions are described in the probability way. The
coupling between the plasma chemistry model and the surface etching model is
an interesting approach to predict the etched surface properties in terms of
the etch rate, the surface roughness and surface steochiometry as a function
of the operating conditions. A satisfactory agreement is obtained by comparing the experimental and the
simulation results concerning the evolution of the main plasma discharge
parameters such as the electron density and temperature versus the ICP
source power for a surface recombination coefficient of atomic chlorine fixed
at γCl = 0.04. On the other hand, simulation results show the
effect of the operating conditions on the etched surface roughness and the
etch rate evolutions with time in the early stage. Moreover, the simulation
results show the correlation between the decrease of the ion to chlorine
flux ratio and the decrease of the RRMS as a function of the pressure.