High-energy negative ion beam obtained from pulsed inductively coupled plasma for charge-free etching process

Negative ions in conventional inductively coupled plasma are often more chemically active than positive ions (for example, in CF4 or SF6 plasmas), but inconveniently they are trapped inside the sheath and cannot be used for high-energy surface etching in sources with a grid-type acceleration system. In this work we describe a method of positive and negative ion extraction that allows the energy and flux of oppositely charged particles to be varied independently. Then by scattering the ions off from a metal surface, it is possible to form a high-energy beam of neutrals from the negative ions by using the low-energy positive component of the beam current for better charge compensation.