DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Application of cyclic fluorocarbon/argon discharges to device patterning

Abstract

With increasing demands on device patterning to achieve smaller critical dimensions and pitches for the 5nm node and beyond, the need for atomic layer etching (ALE) is steadily increasing. In this study, a cyclic fluorocarbon/Ar plasma is successfully used for ALE patterning in a manufacturing scale reactor. Self-limited etching of silicon oxide is observed. The impact of various process parameters on the etch performance is established. The substrate temperature has been shown to play an especially significant role, with lower temperatures leading to higher selectivity and lower etch rates, but worse pattern fidelity. The cyclic ALE approach established with this work is shown to have great potential for small scale device patterning, showing self-limited etching, improved uniformity and resist mask performance.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States); IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States)
  2. IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States)
  3. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1224881
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0001939
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 34; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 0734-2101
Publisher:
American Vacuum Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; plasma etching; dielectric oxides; thin films; plasma deposition; process monitoring and control

Citation Formats

Metzler, Dominik, Uppiredi, Kishore, Bruce, Robert L., Miyazoe, Hiroyuki, Zhu, Yu, Price, William, Sikorski, Ed S., Li, Chen, Engelmann, Sebastian U., Joseph, Eric A., and Oehrlein, Gottlieb S. Application of cyclic fluorocarbon/argon discharges to device patterning. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1116/1.4935460.
Metzler, Dominik, Uppiredi, Kishore, Bruce, Robert L., Miyazoe, Hiroyuki, Zhu, Yu, Price, William, Sikorski, Ed S., Li, Chen, Engelmann, Sebastian U., Joseph, Eric A., & Oehrlein, Gottlieb S. Application of cyclic fluorocarbon/argon discharges to device patterning. United States. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4935460
Metzler, Dominik, Uppiredi, Kishore, Bruce, Robert L., Miyazoe, Hiroyuki, Zhu, Yu, Price, William, Sikorski, Ed S., Li, Chen, Engelmann, Sebastian U., Joseph, Eric A., and Oehrlein, Gottlieb S. Fri . "Application of cyclic fluorocarbon/argon discharges to device patterning". United States. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4935460. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1224881.
@article{osti_1224881,
title = {Application of cyclic fluorocarbon/argon discharges to device patterning},
author = {Metzler, Dominik and Uppiredi, Kishore and Bruce, Robert L. and Miyazoe, Hiroyuki and Zhu, Yu and Price, William and Sikorski, Ed S. and Li, Chen and Engelmann, Sebastian U. and Joseph, Eric A. and Oehrlein, Gottlieb S.},
abstractNote = {With increasing demands on device patterning to achieve smaller critical dimensions and pitches for the 5nm node and beyond, the need for atomic layer etching (ALE) is steadily increasing. In this study, a cyclic fluorocarbon/Ar plasma is successfully used for ALE patterning in a manufacturing scale reactor. Self-limited etching of silicon oxide is observed. The impact of various process parameters on the etch performance is established. The substrate temperature has been shown to play an especially significant role, with lower temperatures leading to higher selectivity and lower etch rates, but worse pattern fidelity. The cyclic ALE approach established with this work is shown to have great potential for small scale device patterning, showing self-limited etching, improved uniformity and resist mask performance.},
doi = {10.1116/1.4935460},
journal = {Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A},
number = 1,
volume = 34,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 13 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Fri Nov 13 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 15 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referencing / citing this record:

Characterizing fluorocarbon assisted atomic layer etching of Si using cyclic Ar/C4F8 and Ar/CHF3 plasma
journal, September 2016

  • Metzler, Dominik; Li, Chen; Engelmann, Sebastian
  • The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 146, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4961458

Cryo atomic layer etching of SiO 2 by C 4 F 8 physisorption followed by Ar plasma
journal, October 2019

  • Antoun, G.; Lefaucheux, P.; Tillocher, T.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 15
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.5119033