Deflection of ions due to electric field perturbation in electron cyclotron resonance discharges

Monte Carlo methods have been used to simulate the transport of ions across the sheath of electron cyclotron resonance discharges. It is found that the local electrical field near the wafer surface is distorted by the geometric shape of the trench, and the nature of this distortion is such that the otherwise normally incident ions are deflected toward the trench sidewalls. The simulation results indicate that the degree of ion deflection due to surface topography scales with the trench depth relative to the sheath thickness and not with the aspect ratio.