ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the effects of the plasma characteristics on plasma processing. The glow discharge plasmas used for plasma processing perform several essential functions, which include supplying the surface to be processed with active species that are more energetic and/or more chemically reactive than can be obtained by purely chemical means. In commercially important etching and sputtering operations, the plasma serves as a source of energetic ions. The energetic ions produced by sheath acceleration can be chemically inert, and their only function is sputtering the surface. They can be chemically reactive with the surface to be processed; or they can be 'catalytic' ions, which are themselves chemically inert, but promote chemical reactions between a working gas and the material of the surface. The plasma may also provide active neutral species that participate in plasma processing. Industrial plasma processing may involve surface treatment, deposition, or other operations, with magnetron sputtering and microelectronic etching and deposition having the largest economic impacts.
