TY - JOUR
T1 - Etch properties of amorphous carbon material using RF pulsing in the O2/N2/CHF3 plasma
AU - Jeon, Min Hwan
AU - Park, Jin Woo
AU - Yun, Deok Hyun
AU - Kim, Kyong Nam
AU - Yeom, Geun Young
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 American Scientific PublishersAll rights reserved.
PY - 2015/11/1
Y1 - 2015/11/1
N2 - The amorphous carbon layer (ACL), used as the hardmask for the etching of nanoscale semiconductor materials, was etched using O2/CHF3 in addition to O2/N2 using pulsed dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasmas, and the effects of source power pulsing for different gas combinations on the characteristics of the plasmas and ACL etching were investigated. As the etch mask for ACL, a patterned SiON layer was used. The etch rates of ACL were decreased with the decrease of pulse duty percentage for both O2/N2 and O2/CHF3 due to decrease of the reactive radicals, such as F and O, with decreasing pulse duty percentage. In addition, at the same pulse duty percentage, the etch selectivity of ACL/SiON with O2/CHF3 was also significantly lower than that with O2/N2. However, the etch profiles of ACL with O2/CHF3 was more anisotropic and the etch profiles were further improved with decreasing the pulse duty percentage than those of ACL with O2/N2. The improved anisotropic etch profiles of ACL with decreasing pulse duty percentage for O2/CHF3 were believed to be related to the formation of a more effective passivation layer, such as a thick fluorocarbon layer, on the sidewall of the ACL during the etching with O2/CHF3, compared to the weak C-N passivation layer formed on the sidewall of ACL when using O2/N2.
AB - The amorphous carbon layer (ACL), used as the hardmask for the etching of nanoscale semiconductor materials, was etched using O2/CHF3 in addition to O2/N2 using pulsed dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasmas, and the effects of source power pulsing for different gas combinations on the characteristics of the plasmas and ACL etching were investigated. As the etch mask for ACL, a patterned SiON layer was used. The etch rates of ACL were decreased with the decrease of pulse duty percentage for both O2/N2 and O2/CHF3 due to decrease of the reactive radicals, such as F and O, with decreasing pulse duty percentage. In addition, at the same pulse duty percentage, the etch selectivity of ACL/SiON with O2/CHF3 was also significantly lower than that with O2/N2. However, the etch profiles of ACL with O2/CHF3 was more anisotropic and the etch profiles were further improved with decreasing the pulse duty percentage than those of ACL with O2/N2. The improved anisotropic etch profiles of ACL with decreasing pulse duty percentage for O2/CHF3 were believed to be related to the formation of a more effective passivation layer, such as a thick fluorocarbon layer, on the sidewall of the ACL during the etching with O2/CHF3, compared to the weak C-N passivation layer formed on the sidewall of ACL when using O2/N2.
KW - Amorphous carbon material
KW - DF-CCPs
KW - Etch characteristics
KW - Pulsed plasma
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84944743450
U2 - 10.1166/jnn.2015.11489
DO - 10.1166/jnn.2015.11489
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84944743450
SN - 1533-4880
VL - 15
SP - 8577
EP - 8583
JO - Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
JF - Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
IS - 11
ER -