Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Nanocalorimetry for plasma metrology relevant to semiconductor fabrication

Published

Author(s)

John Diulus, Carles Corbella Roca, Feng Yi, David LaVan, Berc Kalanyan, Mark McLean, Lakshmi Ravi Narayan, William Osborn, James Maslar, Andrei Kolmakov

Abstract

This letter reports on pilot tests of microfabricated nanocalorimeters as a metrology platform for the rapid (sub-100 ms response time) and sensitive detection of neutral radicals generated by reactive cold plasmas, typical in plasma cleaning applications. The setup consists of a catalytically active sensor and an inert reference sensor, both with identical thermal masses. By measuring the temperature increase in the active sensor, caused by radical surface recombination reactions, and comparing it to the reference sensor, we can effectively isolate and discriminate against parasitic stimuli such as IR/visible/UV radiation and ion or electron fluxes. The system was successfully tested in a hydrogen plasma environment, and key performance metrics such as sensitivity and response time were evaluated and benchmarked against existing plasma diagnostic techniques.
Citation
Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A
Volume
43
Issue
2

Keywords

nanocalorimetry, plasma, semiconductor, process

Citation

Diulus, J. , Corbella Roca, C. , Yi, F. , LaVan, D. , Kalanyan, B. , McLean, M. , Ravi Narayan, L. , Osborn, W. , Maslar, J. and Kolmakov, A. (2025), Nanocalorimetry for plasma metrology relevant to semiconductor fabrication, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, [online], https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0004294, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=958828 (Accessed April 1, 2025)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created February 4, 2025, Updated March 26, 2025