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Low Bias Dry Etching of Sic and Sicn in ICP NF3 Discharges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

J. J. Wang ,
Hyun Cho ,
E. S. Lambers ,
S. J. Peartont ,
M. Ostling ,
C.-M. Zetterling ,
J.M. Grow ,
F. Ren ,
R. J. Shul  and
J. Han
J. J. Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville FL, USA
Hyun Cho
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville FL, USA
E. S. Lambers
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville FL, USA
S. J. Peartont
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville FL, USA
M. Ostling
Affiliation:
Ryal Institute of Technology, Kista, Sweden
C.-M. Zetterling
Affiliation:
Ryal Institute of Technology, Kista, Sweden
J.M. Grow
Affiliation:
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark NJ, USA
F. Ren
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville FL, USA
R. J. Shul
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque NM, USA
J. Han
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque NM, USA
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Abstract

A parametric study of the etching characteristics of 6H p+ and n+ SiC and thin film SiC0.8N0.2 in Inductively Coupled Plasma NF3/O2 and NF3/Ar discharges has been performed. The etch rates in both chemistries increase monotonically with NF3 percentage and rf chuck power reaching 3500Å·min−1 for SiC and 7500 Å·min−1 for SiCN. The etch rates go through a maximum with increasing ICP source power, which is explained by a trade-off between the increasing ion flux and the decreasing ion energy. The anisotropy of the etched features is also a function of ion flux, ion energy and atomic fluorine neutral concentration. Indium-tinoxide( ITO) masks display relatively good etch selectivity over SiC(maximum of 70:1) while photoresist etches more rapidly than SiC. The surface roughness of SiC is essentially independent of plasma composition for NF3/O2 discharges, while extensive surface degradation occurs for SiCN under high NF3:O2 conditions. The high ion flux available in the ICP tool allows etching even at very low dc self-biases, ≤ −10V, leading to very low damage pattern transfer.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 512: Symposium F – Wide Bandgap Semiconductors for High Power, High Frequency , 1998 , 507
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998

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References

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