Heating mode transitions in capacitively coupled CF4 plasmas at low pressure

Capacitively coupled plasmas operated in CF4 at low pressure are frequently used for dielectric plasma etching. For such applications the generation of different ion and neutral radical species by energy dependent electron impact ionization and dissociation of the neutral background gas is important. These processes are largely determined by the space and time dependent electron energy distribution function and, thus, by the electron power absorption dynamics. In this work and based on a particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision model, we show that the electron heating mode in such plasmas is sensitive to changes of the gap at a constant pressure of 3 Pa. At a gap of 1.5 cm, the dominant mode is found to be a hybrid combination of the Drift-Ambipolar (DA) and the alpha-mode. As the gap is increased to 2 cm and 2.5 cm, the bulk power absorption and ambipolar power absorption decreases, and the DA mode decays. When the gap reaches 3 cm, the alpha-mode becomes more prominent, and at a gap of 3.75 cm the alpha-mode is dominant. These mode transitions are caused by a change of the electronegativity and are found to affect the discharge characteristics. The presence of the DA-mode leads to significant positive electron power absorption inside the bulk region and negative power absorption within the sheaths on time average, as electrons are accelerated from the bulk towards the collapsed sheath. The heating mode transitions result in a change from negative to positive total electron power absorption within the sheaths as the gap increases. When accounting for secondary electron emission, the transition of the heating mode can occur at shorter gaps due to the enhanced plasma density and decreased electronegativity.