This paper presents an effective approach for silicon nitride plasma dry etching, with low DC-bias (self-bias) and vertical sidewalls. Four factors were studied: capacitively coupled radio frequency power, inductively coupled plasma power, pressure in the etching chamber, and the combination of etching gases. By meticulously controlling these factors, the authors successfully achieved low DC-bias silicon nitride anisotropic etching without argon bombardment, with DC-bias of only 34 V and etching rate of 40 nm/min. Our new etching recipe can avoid short-circuits effectively when patterning sub-50 nm thick silicon nitride layer as a dielectric layer between two metal layers. Moreover, “beaklike” structures, which were formed during the etching process due to increasing etching DC-bias at the beginning of the etching process, were discovered, understood, and prevented.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
November 2015
Research Article|
September 10 2015
Low DC-bias silicon nitride anisotropic etching
Yifei Wang;
Yifei Wang
Department of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics,
University of Southern California
, 3651 Watt Way, Vivian Hall of Engineering VHE 306, Los Angeles, California 90089
Search for other works by this author on:
He Liu;
He Liu
Department of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics,
University of Southern California
, 3651 Watt Way, Vivian Hall of Engineering VHE 306, Los Angeles, California 90089
Search for other works by this author on:
Yuanrui Li;
Yuanrui Li
Department of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics,
University of Southern California
, 3651 Watt Way, Vivian Hall of Engineering VHE 306, Los Angeles, California 90089
Search for other works by this author on:
a)
Electronic mail: [email protected]
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 33, 06FA01 (2015)
Article history
Received:
June 24 2015
Accepted:
August 26 2015
Citation
Yifei Wang, He Liu, Yuanrui Li, Wei Wu; Low DC-bias silicon nitride anisotropic etching. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 1 November 2015; 33 (6): 06FA01. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4930298
Download citation file:
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Citing articles via
Future of plasma etching for microelectronics: Challenges and opportunities
Gottlieb S. Oehrlein, Stephan M. Brandstadter, et al.
Machine learning driven measurement of high-aspect-ratio nanostructures using Mueller matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry
Shiva Mudide, Nick Keller, et al.
Transferable GeSn ribbon photodetectors for high-speed short-wave infrared photonic applications
Haochen Zhao, Suho Park, et al.
Related Content
Deep anisotropic LiNbO3 etching with SF6/Ar inductively coupled plasmas
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B (January 2012)
Silicon nitride nanotemplate fabrication using inductively coupled plasma etching process
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B (August 2011)
Anisotropic etching of amorphous perfluoropolymer films in oxygen-based inductively coupled plasmas
J. Appl. Phys. (January 2009)
Etch characteristics of magnetic tunnel junction materials using substrate heating in the pulse-biased inductively coupled plasma
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A (August 2015)
Technique for preventing stiction and notching effect on silicon-on-insulator microstructure
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B (November 2003)