Articles you may be interested inEffect of BCl3 in chlorine-based plasma on etching 4H-SiC for photoconductive semiconductor switch applications J.In this study, SiC was etched in a NF 3 /CH 4 inductively coupled plasma. Process parameters and experimental ranges are radio frequency ͑rf͒ source power 700-900 W, bias power 50-150 W, pressure 6 -12 mTorr, and NF 3 percentage 20%-100%. The etch rate and profile angle were examined as a function of process parameters. For optimization, effects of various parameter combinations were investigated by means of a 2 4 full factorial experiment. Main effect analysis revealed that the etch rate is the most significantly affected by NF 3 percentage. In contrast, the source power effect was the most insignificant for both etch rate and profile. For the dc bias less than about 385 V, the etch rate was strongly correlated to the dc bias induced by the source power. This correlation was observed for variations in other parameters. This reveals that the dc bias played an important role in determining the etch rate. For variations in NF 3 percentage, both etch rate and profile angle behaved in a conflicting way. The highest etch rate optimized by the experimental design is 450 nm/min, obtained at 700 W source power, 150 W bias power, 12 mTorr, and 100% NF 3 percentage.

In this study, silicon oxynitride (SiON) has been etched in a C2F6 inductively coupled plasma. The process parameters examined include a radio frequency source power, bias power, pressure, and C2F6 flow rate. For process optimization, a statistical experimental design was employed to investigate parameter effects under various plasma conditions. The etch rate increased almost linearly with increasing the source or bias power. Main effect analysis revealed that the etch rate is dominated by the source power. The C2F6 flow rate exerted the least impact on both etch rate and profile angle. It was estimated that the C2F6 effect is transparent only as the etchant is supplied sufficiently. Depending on the pressure levels, the etch rate varied in a complicated way. Parameter effects on the profile angle were very small and the profile angle varied between 83° and 87° for all etching experiments. In nearly all experiments, microtrenching was observed. The etch rate and profile angle, optimized at 1000W source power, 30W bias power, 6mTorr pressure, and 60sccm C2F6 flow rate, are 434nm∕min and 86°, respectively.