The initial stage of the modeling of the plasma process had supported the innovative developments of the plasma source and feature profile evolution independently as for a film deposition and surface
etching (sputtering) in the last two decades of the 20th century. Targets of the dry etching is classified into a gate Si etching and contact hole (via, trench) etching in SiO2 in ULSI fabrication.
In the technology node of 65 nm (45 nm) in near future, the size of elements of MOS in ULSI rapidly approaches to nanometers. Plasma etching has to be designed under a simultaneous competitive process between etching and deposition. Then, we have to have our considerable consideration of a plasma damage, i.e., a charging and thermal issue during etching to lower-level device elements in ULSI processing. It means the advent of a new era, which requires a self-consistent modeling of the total system including the plasma source design, feature profile evolution, and lower-elements damage prediction under a reliable database both of collision/reaction processes between the electron (ion) and neutral molecules and of surface reaction/transport of electrons (ions) and neutral radical species. The system is one of the practical examples of the multiscale issues.
In this talk, we will first give our overview of the historical development of the etching-oriented feed gas molecule. Numerical prediction of a plasma etching of oxide films including gas-, surface-, and bulk-phase under the condition of current continuity will be given by using a prototyped Computer-Aided Design, VicAddress, developed in Keio University[1], under a available database.

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