Quasi-direct current plasma immersion ion implantation

Quasi-dc (direct current) plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) is demonstrated in the long-pulse mode. To prevent plasma extinction as a result of the sheath reaching the vacuum chamber wall in long-pulse experiments, a grounded grid is used to partition the chamber into two halves. The pulse width can be readily increased to 500 μs that is more than 10 times longer than that in typical low-pressure PIII experiments for monoenergetic implantation (ion mean free path≫sheath thickness). The electron saturation current measured by the Langmuir probe indicates that the grounded grid indeed stops the propagation of the plasma sheath. After the plasma sheath reaches the grounded grid, the pulse current drops to a smaller value indicative of the quasi-dc PIII mode. The plasma recovery time is found to be 800 μs thereby limiting the maximum pulsing frequency to below 1 kHz, and the preferred pulse duration window is between 100 and 500 μs. The secondary ion mass spectrometry profiles show that low energy ions are reduced using long pulses. This operation mode thus offers the unique advantage of a smaller low-energy ion component, that is, more monoenergetic ion distribution, and less surface damage compared to conventional short-pulse PIII. When compared to dc-PIII, this mode retains the discharge characteristics and works well for insulators.