• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.287-291
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• 2012

We investigated the etching characteristics of TaN thin films in an $O_2/BCl_3/Cl_2/Ar$ gas using a high density plasma (HDP) system. A maximum etch rate of the TaN thin films and the selectivity of TaN to $SiO_2$ were obtained as 172.7 nm/min and 6.27 in the $O_2/BCl_3/Cl_2/Ar$ (3:2:18:10 sccm) gas mixture, respectively. At the same time, the etch rate was measured as a function of the etching parameters, such as the RF power, DC-bias voltage, and process pressure. The chemical states on the surface of the etched TaN thin films were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Auger electron spectroscopy was used for elemental analysis on the surface of the etched TaN thin films. These surface analyses confirm that the surface of the etched TaN thin film is formed with the nonvolatile by-product.