Abstract

This paper summarizes the computational techniques behind a novel concurrent simulation method used for studying the neutral flow inside plasma reactors. The technique is intended to cope with low pressure flow (less than 1.5 Torr) in realistic three-dimensional geometries. It is based on the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo method to accurately model rarefied gas flow. The concurrent formulation operates on a broad variety of shared-memory multiprocessors, multicomputers, and networked workstations. INTRODUCTION Plasma processing equipment accounts for approximately 20 percent of the setup cost for a new semiconductor manufacturing plant. The cost of these production facilities is escalating, as are the research and development costs of introducing each new generation of processing technology. One of the key pieces of equipment in microelectronics manufacturing is the plasma reactor, used in 30 to 40 percent of processing steps. It is widely recognized that the development of computati...

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