ETCHING

BY:- PARUL TRIVEDI

Wet etching
The first etching processes used liquid-phase ("wet") etchants. The wafer can be immersed in a bath of etchant, which must be agitated to achieve good process control.the chemical contains liquid dissolve only the SiO2. For instance,buffered hydrofluoric acid (BHF) is used commonly to etch silicon dioxide over a silicon substrate. Different specialised etchants can be used to characterise the surface etched.

 A basic wet etching process may be broken down into three (3) basic steps: 1) diffusion of the etchant to the surface for removal; 2) reaction between the etchant and the material being removed; 3) diffusion of the reaction byproducts from the. reacted surface

The understanding refers to the etching to the SiO2 in both vertical and lateral direrctions. ETCH BIAS = Df - Dm

 The wet etchants are isotropic and hence give rise to undercutting the etching material should therefore offer anisotropy given by Af = 1-(Vl/Vv) when Vl = 0 then process defined to be anisotropic and results in very straight walled etching pattern.

Properties
Mixtures of acids, bases, and water - HF, H3PO4, H2SO4, KOH, H2O2, HCl, .. Can be used to etch many materials - Si, SiO2, Si3N4, PR, Al, Au, Cu, Etch Rate: - wide range Etch Selectivity - typically quite high - sensitive to contamination Etch Geometry: - typically isotropic, some special cases are anistrpoic

Methods of Dry Etching

Physical etching: (e.g. sputtering etch) -mechanical/physical interaction -positive ions are accelerated and strike substrate with high kinetic energy, some energy is then transferred to surface atoms, which leads to material removal -negative ions cannot reach the wafer and therefore plays no role in the etching -Highly anisotropic and Low Selectivity

Methods of Dry Etching

Methods of Dry Etching

Chemical etching: -neutral or/and ionized species interact with the materials surface to form volatile products -High product volatility is important so that the reaction product would not coat the surface and prevent further etching -Isotropic & High Selectivity Combinations of Chemical and Physical Etching -Anisotropic profile, reasonably good selectivity, and moderate bombardment-induced damage.

DRY ETCHING Cont.

In reactive etching, the gas is chosen so that ions and radicals formed after dissociation of the gas in the discharge undergo a chemical reaction with the substrate preferably one that gives a chemical product that is volatile at the process pressure so that it can be pumped away. This can be done in an ion-beam-etching machine by introducing a reactive gas in front of the substrate so that it is ionized by collision with the beam of noble-gas ions. Dark Space At low pressures, say less than 50 mT, a dark space that is essentially free of ions appears between the electrodes and the plasma. A DC voltage is developed across this dark space, its magnitude depending on the pressure and frequency

Wet Etching vs. Dry Etching

In wet etchants, the etch reactants come form a liquid source In dry etchants, the etch reactants come form a gas or vapor phase source and are typically ionized -Atoms or ions from the gas are the reactive species that etch the exposed film Selectivity : In general, dry etching has less selectivity than wet etching Anisotropy: In general, dry etching has higher degree of anisotropy than wet etching Etch Rate: In general, dry etch has lower etch than wet etching Etch Control: Dry etching is much easier to start and stop than wet etching

Plasma Etching
Plasma
Plasma= partially ionized gas consisting of equal numbers of + (ions) and - (electrons) charges and a different number of neutral (un-ionized) molecules An ion-electron pair is continuously created by ionization and destroyed by recombination Typical kinetic energy (KE) of an electron in plasma is 2-8 eV KE = mV2 = 3/2 kT m = particle mass V = particle mean velocity k = Boltzmann constant T = temperature (K)

Plasma Formation
Chamber is evacuated Chamber is filled with gas(es) RF energy is applied to a pair of electrodes Applied energy accelerates electrons increasing kinetic energy Electrons collide with neutral gas molecules, forming ions and more electrons Steady state is reached (plasma); Ionization = recombination

Plasma Formation
Plasma discharge is characterized by central glow or bulk region and dark or sheath regions near electrodes Bulk region = semi-neutral (nearly equal number of electrons and ions) Sheath regions = nearly all of the potential drop; accelerates + ions from bulk region which bombard the substrate Maintained at 1 Pa (75 mtorr) to 750 Pa (56 torr) with gas density of 27 x 1014 to 2 x 1017 molecules/cm3

Physical Etching (Sputter Etching)

Sputtering- means ejection of material from a surface caused by bombardment by energetic ions such as Ar+. Based on physical bombardment with ions or atoms Plasma is used to energize a chemically inert projectile so that it moves at high velocity when it strikes the substrate Momentum is transferred during the collision Substrate atoms are dislodged if projectile energy exceeds bonding energy Very similar to ion implantation, but low-energy ions are used to avoid implantation damage Highly anisotropic Etch rates for most materials are comparable (i.e., no masking) Argon is the most commonly used ion source May result in redisposition

Dry etching and sputtering