Dry Etching Performance and Gas-Phase Parameters of CFO + Ar Plasma in Comparison with CF + Ar.

This research work deals with the comparative study of CFO + Ar and CF + Ar gas chemistries in respect to Si and SiO reactive-ion etching processes in a low power regime. Despite uncertain applicability of CFO as the fluorine-containing etchant gas, it is interesting because of the liquid (at room temperature) nature and weaker environmental impact (lower global warming potential). The combination of several experimental techniques (double Langmuir probe, optical emission spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) allowed one (a) to compare performances of given gas systems in respect to the reactive-ion etching of Si and SiO; and (b) to associate the features of corresponding etching kinetics with those for gas-phase plasma parameters.

Application of Si and SiO2 Etching Mechanisms in CF4/C4F8/Ar Inductively Coupled Plasmas for Nanoscale Patterns.

An investigation of the etching characteristics and mechanism for both Si and SiO2 in CF4/C4F8/Ar inductively coupled plasmas under a constant gas pressure (4 mTorr), total gas flow rate (40 sccm), input power (800 W), and bias power (150 W) was performed. It was found that the variations in the CF4/C4F8 mixing ratio in the range of 0-50% at a constant Ar fraction of 50% resulted in slightly non-monotonic Si and SiO2 etching rates in CF4-rich plasmas and greatly decreasing etching rates in C4F8-rich plasmas. The zero-dimensional plasma model, Langmuir probe diagnostics, and optical emission spectroscopy provided information regarding the formation-decay kinetics for the plasma active species, along with their densities and fluxes.

On the etching characteristics and mechanisms of HfO2 thin films in CF4/O2/Ar and CHF3/O2/Ar plasma for nano-devices.

The study of etching characteristics and mechanisms for HfO2 and Si in CF4/O2/Ar and CHF3/O2/Ar inductively-coupled plasmas was carried out. The etching rates of HfO2 thin films as well as the HfO2/Si etching selectivities were measured as functions of Ar content in a feed gas (0-50% Ar) at fixed fluorocarbon gas content (50%), gas pressure (6 mTorr), input power (700 W), bias power (200 W), and total gas flow rate (40 sccm). Plasma parameters as well as the differences in plasma chemistries for CF4- and CHF3-based plasmas were analyzed using Langmuir probe diagnostics and 0-dimensional plasma modeling.