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A recent, important development in low-pressure plasma processing is the radio frequency inductively (RFI) coupled high density discharge. Its ability to create high densities of excited and charged species at low pressures (<10−3 Torr) makes it an attractive etching tool. In this work we have examined selective etching of SiO2 over Si using a home-built RFI source. CHF3, C2F4, C3F6 and their mixtures with hydrogen were examined. Without biasing of the substrate strong fluorocarbon deposition occurs over the investigated pressure range from 5 to 20 mTorr. As the pressure increases the ion current density decreases, whereas the fluorocarbon deposition rate increases. Both parameters increase roughly linearly with inductive rf power from 500 up to 1250 W. Etching was achieved by rf biasing. When the pressure is reduced from 20 to 6 mTorr, the oxide and silicon etch rates decrease less than 20% for all gases. The highest oxide etch rate of 830 nm/min at 350 W rf bias power is achieved for C3F6. Adding H2 decreases the etch rates for oxide and silicon for all gases. The drop of the silicon etch rate is considerably higher than for the oxide etch rate resulting in a better selectivity. The best selectivity of 45 is achieved for C2F4 when 30% H2 is added into the discharge. The results obtained with the RFI source are compared to results with a microwave electron cyclotron resonance discharge.

A comparison of the plasma etching characteristics of SiO2 and Si3N4 in high-density fluorocarbon discharges with the goal of identifying an etching chemistry with a very high SiO2-to-Si3N4 etch selectivity has been initiated. High-density plasmas were excited in an electron cyclotron resonance apparatus equipped with a cooled rf powered electrostatic chuck. Gas mixtures of either CF4/H2, CHF3/H2 (low carbon/fluorine ratio fluorocarbon gases), or C2F4/H2, C2F6/H2, and C3F6/H2 (high C/F ratio) were used in this work. We will show that a carbon-rich fluorocarbon gas like C2F4 and a modest amount of H2 are useful in achieving high SiO2/Si3N4 etch selectivity (≳28). On the other hand, hydrogen-rich fluorocarbon gas mixtures which contain less carbon, e.g., CHF3/H2, are not useful for achieving SiO2 over Si3N4 etch selectivity although they will enable SiO2/Si etch selectivity. The gas phase and surface chemical aspects of the different gas mixtures were studied by optical emission spectrometry and line of sight mass spectrometry and by post plasma x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results of these measurements can explain the etch rate data by selective deposition of fluorocarbon films on Si3N4 and Si surfaces.

High density plasma etching processes using halogen based chemistries have been studied for 0.2 μm polysilicon-germanium gate patterning. Bilayer gate stacks consisting of 80 nm polycrystalline Si on 120 nm polycrystalline Si1−xGex (x was varied between 0.55 and 1) were grown on 4.5 nm SiO2 covered 200 mm diameter p-type silicon wafers. The bilayer gates were masked with oxide patterns. The wafers were etched in a low pressure, high density plasma helicon source. Various mixtures, based on Cl2, HBr, and O2 gases, have been used to investigate the etching of the Si/SiGe bilayer gates. The gas mixture and the plasma operating conditions have been optimized to obtain anisotropic etching profiles for features down to 0.2 μm, and to minimize the gate oxide consumption. Real time process control was achieved using HeNe ellipsometry in blanket areas, allowing the SiGe/oxide transition to be easily detected. A two step etching process using a Cl2/O2–He mixture was developed. The first step uses a high energy ion bombardment in order to obtain a high etch rate, and the second step uses a lower ion energy to achieve high SiGe/oxide selectivity. The second step is started 40 nm before reaching the SiGe/SiO2 interface in order to reduce gate oxide consumption and structural defects formation at the edges of the gate.

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