Vacuum 63 (2001) 385–431 The energy balance at substrate surfaces during plasma processing H. Kersten a, *, H. Deutsch a , H. Steffen a , G.M.W. Kroesen b , R. Hippler a a Institute for Physics, E.-M.-Arndt-University, Domstrasse 10a, 17487 Greifswald, Germany b Department of Physics, TU Eindhoven, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands Abstract A summary is given of different elementary processes influencing the thermal balance and energetic conditions of substrate surfaces during plasma processing. The discussed mechanisms include heat radiation, kinetic and potential energy of charged particles and neutrals as well as enthalpy of involved chemical surface reactions. The energy and momentum of particles originating from the plasma or electrodes, respectively, influence via energy flux density (energetic aspect) and substrate temperature (thermal aspect) the surface properties of the treated substrates. The various contributions to the energy balance are given in a modular mathematical framework form and examples for an estimation of heat fluxes and numerical values of relevant coefficients for energy transfer, etc. are given. For a few examples as titanium film deposition by hollow cathode arc evaporation, silicon etching in CF 4 glow discharge, plasma cleaning of contaminated metal surfaces, and magnetron sputtering of aluminum the energetic balance of substrates during plasma processing will be presented. Furthermore, the influence of the resulting substrate temperature on characteristic quantities as etching or deposition rates, layer density, microstructure, etc. will be illustrated for some examples, too. r 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction At present plasma processing of materials is one of the fastest growing branches in plasma physics and has got a prominent position in the rather new field of applied surface science. In particular, plasma–wall interactions are of great importance in a large variety of applications of low-tempera- ture, low-pressure plasmas in such fields as etching, deposition and surface modification of thin films. In these processes the thermal and energetic conditions at the substrate surface play a dominant role. In detail, low-temperature plasma processing of solid surfaces is mainly affected by the following parameters: * energy per incoming particle (E v ), which is related to energy transfer, * particle flux density to the substrate ( j v ), which is related to momentum transfer, * energy flux density (J v ¼ j v E v ), representing a key parameter for the energetic conditions at the surface, and * temperature of the substrate surface (T S ), which results from the inner parameters (E v ; J v ) mentioned above and which reflects the thermal *Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-3834-864-752; fax: +49- 3834-864-701. E-mail address: kersten@physik.uni-greifswald.de (H. Kersten). 0042-207X/01/$-see front matter r 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0042-207X(01)00350-5