• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.51 no.6
• /
• pp.755-759
• /
• 2013

The etch rate and etch profile of Si was investigated when Ar was added to an $SF_6$ plasma in the etch step of the Bosch process. A Si substrate was etched with the Bosch process using $SF_6$ and $SF_6$/Ar plasmas, respectively, in the etch step to analyze the effects of Ar addition on the etch characteristics of Si. When the Ar flow rate in the $SF_6$ plasma was increased, the etch rate of the Si substrate increased, had a maximum at 20% of the Ar flow rate, and then decreased. This was because the addition of Ar to the $SF_6$ plasma in the etch step of the Bosch process resulted in the bombardment of Ar ions on the Si substrate. This enhanced the chemical reactions (thus etch rates) between F radicals and Si as well as led to sputtering of Si particles. Consequently, the etch rate was higher more than 10% and the etch profile was more anisotropic when the Si substrate was etched with the Bosch process using a $SF_6$/Ar (20% of Ar flow rate) plasma during the etch step. This work revealed a feasibility to improve the etch rate and anisotropic etch profile of Si performed with the Bosch process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 2003.05a
• /
• pp.41-41
• /
• 2003

텅스텐(W)은 높은 thermal stability 와 process compatibility 및 우수한 corrosion r resistance 둥으로 integrated circuit (IC)의 gate 및 interconnection 둥으로의 활용이 대두되고 있으며, 차세대 thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD)의 gate 및 interconnection m materials 둥으로 사용되고 았다. 그러나, 이러한 장점을 가지고 있는 팅스텐 박막이 실제 공정상에 적용되가 위해서는 건식 식각이 주로 사용되는데, 이는 wet chemical 을 이용한 습식 식각을 사용할 경우 낮은 etch rate, line width 의 감소 및 postetch residue 잔류 동의 문제가 발생하기 때문이다. 또한 W interconnection etching 을 하기 위해서는 높은 텅스텐 박막의 etch rate 과 하부 layer ( (amorphous silicon 또는 poly-SD와의 높은 etch selectivity 가 필수적 이 라 할 수 있다. 그러 나, 지금까지 연구되어온 결과에 따르면 텅스탠과 하부 layer 와의 etch selectivity 는 2 이하로 매우 낮게 관찰되고 았으며, 텅스텐의 etch rate 또한 150nm/min 이하로 낮은 값을 나타내고 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 halogen-based inductively coupled plasma 를 이용하여 텅스텐 박막 식각시 여러 가지 첨가 가스에 따른 높은 텅스탠 박막의 etch rate 과 하부 layer 와의 높은 etch s selectivity 를 얻고자 하였으며, 그에 따른 식각 메커니즘에 대하여 알아보고자 하였다. $CF_4/Cl_2$ gas chemistry 에 첨 가 가스로 $N_2$와 Ar을 첨 가할 경 우 텅 스텐 박막과 하부 layer 간의 etch selectivity 증가는 관찰되지 않았으며, 반면에 첨가 가스로 $O_2$를 사용할 경우, $O_2$의 첨가량이 증가함에 따라 etch s selectivity 는 계속적으로 증가렴을 관찰할 수 있었다. 이는 $O_2$ 첨가에 따라 형성되는 WOF4 에 의한 텅스텐의 etch rates 의 감소에 비하여, $Si0_2$ 등의 형성에 의한 poly-Si etch rates 이 더욱 크게 감소하였기 때문으로 사료된다. W 과 poly-Si 의 식각 특성을 이해하기 위하여 X -ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)를 사용하였으며, 식각 전후의 etch depth 를 측정하기 위하여 stylus p pmfilometeT 를 이용하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
• /
• v.30A no.7
• /
• pp.60-74
• /
• 1993

Experiments of RIE of tungsten films using SF$_{6}$ plasma were conducted to investigate the effect of process parameters on etch rate, uniformity, anisotropy, and selectivity. As power increased, the etch rate increased. Maximum etch rate was obtained at 200mtorr As interelectrode spacing increased the etch rate increased for P < 200mtorr while it decreased for P> 200mtorr. Etch rate was maximum at 20 sccm gas flow rate. As substrate temperature increased, the etch rate increased and activation energy was 0.046 eV. In addition, maximum etch rate was acquired at 20% $O_{2}$ addition. The etch rate slightly increased when Ar was added up to 20% while it continuously decreased when N$_{2}$ was added. Uniformity got improved as pressure decreased and was less than 4% for P <100mtorr. Mass spectrometer was utilized to analyze gas composition and S and F peaks were observed from XPS analysis with increasing power. The anisotropy was better for smaller power and spacing, and lower pressure and temperature. It improved when CH$_{4}$ was added and anisotropic etch profile was obtained when about 10% $O_{2}$ was added. The selectjvity was better for smaller power larger pressure and spacing, and lower temperature. Especially. low temperature processing was proposed as a novel method to improve the anisotropy and selectivity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2000.04b
• /
• pp.147-151
• /
• 2000

This paper presents the electrochemical etch-stop characteristics of single-crystal silicon in a tetramethyl ammonium hyciroxide(TMAH):isopropyl alcohol(IPA):pyrazine solution. Addition of pyrazine to a TMAH:IPA etchant increases the etch-rate of (100) silicon, thus the elapsed time for etch-stop was shortened. The current-voltage(I-V) characteristics of n- and p-type silicon in a TMAH:IPA:pyrazine solution were obtained, respectively. Open circuit potential(OCP) and passivation potential(PP) of n- and p-type silicon, respectively, were obtained and applied potential was selected between n- and p-type silicon PP. The electrochemical etch-stop is applied to the fabrication of 801 microdiaphragms having $20\;{\mu}m$ thickness on a 5-inch silicon wafer. The averge thicknesses of 801 microdiaphragms fabricated on the one wafer were $20.03\;{\mu}m$ and standard deviation was ${\pm}0.26{\mu}m$. The silicon surface of the etch-stopped microdiaphragm was extremely flat without noticeable taper or other nonuniformities. The benefits of the electrochemical etch-stop in a TMAH:IPA:pyrazine solution become apparent when reproducibility in the microdiaphragm thickness for mass production is considered. These results indicate that the electrochemical etch-stop in a TMAH:IPA:pyrazine solution provides a powerful and versatile alternative process for fabricating high-yield silicon microdiaphragms.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.116-119
• /
• 2010

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.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.105-109
• /
• 2002

The wet etching characteristics of magnetic materials such as NiFe and CoFe were investigated in terms of etch rate and etch profile by using variouus etching solutions (etchants). Among the various etching solutions, HNO$_3$, HCl, and H$_2$SO$_4$were selected for the etching of magnetic materials and showed distinct results. In the case of NiFe films, faster etch rate were obtained with HNO$_3$solution. When NiFe films ere etched with HCl solution, white etch residues were found on the surface of etched films. From FEAES analysis of these etch residues, they were proved to be by-product from the reaction of NiFe with Cl element. CoFe thin films showed the similar trend to the case of NiFe films. They were etched fast in HNO$_3$ solution while Chl solution represented slow etching. The etch profiles of CoFe films showed smooth etch profile but revealed the partial etching around the patterns in HNO$_3$solution of relatively high concentration. It was observed that the etched surface was clean and smooth, and that white etch residues were also remained on the etched films.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.322-326
• /
• 2011

Etch process of silicon dioxide layer by using capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) is currently being used to manufacture semiconductor devices with nano-scale feature size below 50 nm. In typical CCP plasma etcher system, plasmas are generated by applying the RF power on upper electrode and ion bombardment energy is controlled by applying RF power to the bottom electrode with the Si wafer. In this case, however, etch results often drift due to heating of the electrode during etching process. Therefore, controlling the temperature of the upper electrode is required to obtain improvement of etch repeatability. In this work, we report repeatability improvement during the silicon dioxide etching under extreme process conditions with very high RF power and close gap between upper and bottom electrodes. Under this severe etch condition, it is difficult to obtain reproducible oxide etch results due to drifts in etch rate, critical dimension, profile, and selectivity caused by unexpected problems in the upper electrode. It was found that reproducible etch results of silicon dioxide layer could be obtained by controlling temperature of the upper electrode. Methods of controlling the upper electrode and the correlation with etch repeatability will be discussed in detail.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
• /
• 1999.10a
• /
• pp.56-56
• /
• 1999

For advanced TFT-LCD manufacturing processes, dry etching of thin-film layers(a-Si, $SiN_x$, SID & gate electrodes, ITO etc.) is increasingly preferred instead of conventional wet etching processes. To dry etch Al gate electrode which is advantageous for reducing propagation delay time of scan signals, high etch rate, slope angle control, and etch uniformity are required. For the Al gate electrode, some metals such as Ti and Nd are added in Al to prevent hillocks during post-annealing processes in addition to gaining low-resistivity($<10u{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$), high performance to heat tolerance and corrosion tolerance of Al thin films. In the case of AI-Nd alloy films, however, low etch rate and poor selectivity over photoresist are remained as a problem. In this study, to enhance the etch rates together with etch uniformity of AI-Nd alloys, magnetized inductively coupled plasma(MICP) have been used instead of conventional ICP and the effects of various magnets and processes conditions have been studied. MICP was consisted of fourteen pairs of permanent magnets arranged along the inside of chamber wall and also a Helmholtz type axial electromagnets was located outside the chamber. Gas combinations of $Cl_2,{\;}BCl_3$, and HBr were used with pressures between 5mTorr and 30mTorr, rf-bias voltages from -50Vto -200V, and inductive powers from 400W to 800W. In the case of $Cl_2/BCl_3$ plasma chemistry, the etch rate of AI-Nd films and etch selectivity over photoresist increased with $BCl_3$ rich etch chemistries for both with and without the magnets. The highest etch rate of $1,000{\AA}/min$, however, could be obtained with the magnets(both the multi-dipole magnets and the electromagnets). Under an optimized electromagnetic strength, etch uniformity of less than 5% also could be obtained under the above conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2012.02a
• /
• pp.408-408
• /
• 2012

It is well known that magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is nonvolatile memory devices using ferromagnetic materials. MRAM has the merits such as fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance and nonvolatility. Although DRAM has many advantages containing high storage density, fast access time and low power consumption, it becomes volatile when the power is turned off. Owing to the attractive advantages of MRAM, MRAM is being spotlighted as an alternative device in the future. MRAM consists of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack and complementary metal- oxide semiconductor (CMOS). MTJ stacks are composed of various magnetic materials. FePt thin films are used as a pinned layer of MTJ stack. Up to date, an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE) method of MTJ stacks showed better results in terms of etch rate and etch profile than any other methods such as ion milling, chemical assisted ion etching (CAIE), reactive ion etching (RIE). In order to improve etch profiles without redepositon, a better etching process of MTJ stack needs to be developed by using different etch gases and etch parameters. In this research, influences of $O_2$ gas on the etching characteristics of FePt thin films were investigated. FePt thin films were etched using ICPRIE in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mix. The etch rate and the etch selectivity were investigated in various $O_2$ concentrations. The etch profiles were studied in varying etch parameters such as coil rf power, dc-bias voltage, and gas pressure. TiN was employed as a hard mask. For observation etch profiles, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) was used.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.327-330
• /
• 2006

We investigated the usefulness of $NbO_{x}$ nanopillars as an etching mask of dry etching for the formation of Si nanodot arrays. The $NbO_{x}$ nanopillar arrays were prepared by the anodic aluminum oxidation process of Al and Nb thin films. The etch rate and etch profile of $NbO_{x}$ nanopillar arrays were examined by varying the experimental conditions such as the concentration of etch gas, coil rf power, and dc bias voltage in the reactive ion etch system using the inductively coupled plasma. As the concentration of $Cl_{2}$ gas increased, the etch rate of $NbO_{x}$nanopillars decreased. With increasing coil rf power and dc bias voltage, the etch rates were found to increase. The etch characteristics and etch mechanism of $NbO_{x}$ nanopillars were investigated by varying the etch time under the selected etch conditions.