PiCHY: A GPU Parallelized PIC-MCC Simulator for Semiconductor Manufacturing Processes

Plasma simulations are widely used for semiconductor manufacturing processes such as atomic layer deposition (ALD) [1], physical vapor deposition (PVD) [2], and others. Among the various methods used for plasma simulation, the particle-in-cell method stands out as a highly accurate approach. However, it is important to acknowledge that this method also presents challenges due to slow computational speed and the incorporation of chemical reactions. Our in-house GPU parallelized Particle-in-Cell Monte Carlo collision (PIC-MCC) program called "PiCHY" [3] was developed in order to simulate a 300 mm reactor with gas mixture for Torr-order pressure. Implemented in cylindrical and Cartesian geometry to simulate various chambers, PiCHY uses DNT+DM [4] to handle a variety of ion collisions, including elastic, inelastic, and charge exchange. Recent updates of PiCHY, such as the code optimization, the effect of ion impact ionization in capacitively coupled plasma [5], and its application to PVD will be demonstrated at the conference. PiCHY proves to be practical and valuable for R&D of plasma equipment.