Features of copper etching in chlorine-argon plasma

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · High Energy Chemistry

OSTI ID:171693

Efremov, A M; Svettsov, V I ^[1]

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1. Ivanovo State Academy for Chemistry and Technology (Russian Federation)

Chlorine mixtures with inert gases including argon exhibit promise as plasma feed gases for etching metals and semiconductors in the microelectronics industry. It was shown that even strong dilution of reactive gas with an inert gas (up to 80-90% of the latter) has virtually no effect in decreasing the rate of plasma etching of materials such as silicon and gallium arsenide, compared to etching in pure chlorine. The principal reactive species responsible for etching these substrates are chlorine atoms therefore, a possible explanation of the effect is an increase in the rate of bulk generation of chlorine atoms in the presence of argon. In this work the authors studied the influence of argon on the rate of copper etching in chlorine, because copper, unlike the above substrates, reacts effectively not only with the atoms but with the ground-state molecules of chlorine.

• OSTI ID: 171693
• Journal Information: High Energy Chemistry, Journal Name: High Energy Chemistry Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 29; ISSN 0018-1439; ISSN HIECAP
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ARGON
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
CHLORINE
COPPER
ETCHING
PLASMA