Atom by Atom simulation of nano-materials manipulation: the plasma etching case

In this paper we discuss a multi-scale method for the process simulation at the atomic resolution applied to the plasma etching. We demonstrate that accurate prediction of the micro-structure modifications, as a function of the equipment parameters, can be achieved by coupling two simulation approaches modeling phenomena at different length scales. Focusing on the etching processing of nano-patterned silicon samples in HBr/O2-type plasma the main ingredients of the numerical method are highlighted: a) the comprehensive model of the plasma reactions to determine the particle distribution of the active plasma components, b) coupled with a Kinetic Monte Carlo simulating at the atomic level all the events concurring to the surface erosion. The technique predicts the variation of the process results when the macroscopic parameters related to the equipment setting (e.g. power, potential, injected gas composition) are modified. Comparisons between microscopic analyses of real etched structure and etched profile predicted by the feature scale simulations validate the coupled numerical approach.