Synchrotron radiation-induced surface-conductivity of SiO2 for modification of plasma charging

In this work, we investigate the electrical surface conductivity that is temporarily induced in SiO2 by exposure to monochromatic vacuum-ultraviolet synchrotron radiation for modification of plasma charging. Special preprocessed test structures were exposed to controlled fluxes of monochromatic synchrotron radiation in the range of 500-3000 Angstrom (approx. 4-25 eV), the energy band of most plasma vacuum-ultraviolet radiation. The highest oxide surface conductivity is achieved during irradiation by photons with energies between 15 and 18 eV. This enhanced oxide surface conductivity holds the potential to discharge high-aspect ratio structures that charge up during plasma processing due to electron shading, and thus minimize plasma-processing-induced damage to semiconductor devices. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)00316-8].