Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials

The Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers (한국전기전자재료학회)
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The Dry Etching Properties of ZnO Thin Film in Cl2/BCl3/Ar Plasma

  • Woo, Jong-Chang (School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Chung-Ang University) ;
  • Kim, Chang-Il (School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Chung-Ang University)
  • Received : 2010.03.18
  • Accepted : 2010.05.03
  • Published : 2010.06.25
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Abstract

The etching characteristics of zinc oxide (ZnO) were investigated, including the etch rate and the selectivity of ZnO in a $Cl_2/BCl_3$/Ar plasma. It was found that the ZnO etch rate, the RF power, and the gas pressure showed non-monotonic behaviors with an increasing Cl2 fraction in the $Cl_2/BCl_3$/Ar plasma, a gas mixture of $Cl_2$(3 sccm)/$BCl_3$(16 sccm)/Ar (4 sccm) resulted in a maximum ZnO etch rate of 53 nm/min and a maximum etch selectivity of 0.89 for ZnO/$SiO_2$. We used atomic force microscopy to determine the roughness of the surface. Based on these data, the ion-assisted chemical reaction was proposed as the main etch mechanism for the plasmas. Due to the relatively low volatility of the by-products formed during etching with $Cl_2/BCl_3$/Ar plasma, ion bombardment and physical sputtering were required to obtain the high ZnO etch rate. The chemical states of the etched surfaces were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). This data suggested that the ZnO etch mechanism was due to ion enhanced chemical etching.

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