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In this study, Ag thin films deposited on glass were etched using inductively coupled Cl 2-based plasmas and the effects of various Cl 2-based gas mixtures on the formation of reactive byproducts affecting Ag etching were investigated. When Cl 2based gas mixtures were used with Ar and O 2 , due to the very low vapor pressure of the etch products, thick etch products remaining on the substrate could be observed after the etching. However, these etch products were easily removed during the photoresist stripping by a photoresist stripper. In particular, when O 2 was added to Cl 2 , higher Ag removal rates during the photoresist stripping than those by pure Cl 2 or O 2 could be obtained. These results are interpreted as the formations of more porous and reactive etch reaction products when O 2 was added to Cl 2. The Ag removal rates by Cl 2 /O 2 /50%N 2 estimated after the photoresist stripping were higher than those by Cl 2 /O 2 /50%Ar and the use of Cl 2 /O 2 /50%Ar resulted in higher Ag etch rates than those by Cl 2 /50%Ar. Therefore, the physical and chemical properties of the etch products formed by the specific gas mixture appear to be important in removing Ag for Cl 2-based plasmas.

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The characteristics of the dry etching of SiN :H thin films for display devices using SF 6 /O 2 and NF 3 /O 2 were investigated using a dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (CCP-RIE) system. The investigation was carried out by varying the RF power ratio (13.56 MHz/2 MHz), pressure, and gas flow ratio. For the SiN :H film, the etch rates obtained using NF 3 /O 2 were higher than those obtained using SF 6 /O 2 under various process conditions. The relationships between the etch rates and the usual monitoring parameters-the optical emission spectroscopy (OES) intensity of atomic fluorine (685.1 nm and 702.89 nm) and the voltages and -were investigated. The OES intensity data indicated a correlation between the bulk plasma density and the atomic fluorine density. The etch rate was proportional to the product of the OES intensity of atomic fluorine ( (F)) and the square root of the voltages (√ ℎ + ) on the assumption that the velocity of the reactive fluorine was proportional to the square root of the voltages.

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