The early work of John Coburn and Harold Winters revealed a synergistic effect in ion-enhanced Si etching by the concurrent irradiation of Ar+ and XeF2. This finding provided an important foundation for the development of plasma dry etching processes. The experimental results of Coburn and Winters also found effects that are useful for the development of atomic layer etching (ALE) processes characterized by a self-limited etch rate. ALE approaches are widely established and can be utilized in either directional or isotropic etching by employing proper surface modification and product removal steps. Nevertheless, the development of material selective ALE processes is still limited. An approach that combines substrate-selective deposition with etching opens a new processing window for selective ALE. The authors studied the deposition behavior of mixtures of methane (CH4) with trifluoromethane (CHF3) and mixtures of methane with octafluorocyclobutane (C4F8) on HfO2 and Si surfaces. The experimental results show that a CH4/C4F8 mixture produces a comparable fluorocarbon (FC) deposition thickness on both HfO2 and Si during the deposition step. In contrast, a CH4/CHF3 mixture deposits an FC film on Si, whereas it fluorinates the HfO2 surface with negligible FC deposition. Utilizing these behaviors allows for an ALE process based on CH4/CHF3 for selective removal of HfO2 over Si. Surface characterization data that provide mechanistic insights into these processes are also provided and discussed.
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Research Article|
March 06 2020
Selective atomic layer etching of HfO2 over silicon by precursor and substrate-dependent selective deposition
Special Collection:
Special Topic Collection Commemorating the Career of John Coburn
Kang-Yi Lin
;
Kang-Yi Lin
1
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland
, College Park, Maryland 20740
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Chen Li
;
Chen Li
2
Department of Physics, and Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland
, College Park, Maryland 20740
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Sebastian Engelmann;
Sebastian Engelmann
3
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598
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Robert L. Bruce;
Robert L. Bruce
3
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598
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Eric A. Joseph;
Eric A. Joseph
3
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598
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Dominik Metzler;
Dominik Metzler
4
IBM Semiconductor Technology Research
, 257 Fuller Road, Albany, New York 12203
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Gottlieb S. Oehrlein
Gottlieb S. Oehrlein
a)
1
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland
, College Park, Maryland 20740
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a)
Electronic mail: [email protected]
Note: This paper is part of the Special Topic Collection Commemorating the Career of John Coburn.
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 38, 032601 (2020)
Article history
Received:
December 20 2019
Accepted:
February 14 2020
Citation
Kang-Yi Lin, Chen Li, Sebastian Engelmann, Robert L. Bruce, Eric A. Joseph, Dominik Metzler, Gottlieb S. Oehrlein; Selective atomic layer etching of HfO2 over silicon by precursor and substrate-dependent selective deposition. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 1 May 2020; 38 (3): 032601. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5143247
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