A Novel Fabrication Process for High Density Silicon Capacitors by using Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching

Abstract

In silicon capacitors, it is most important to increase the surface area of the surface forming the capacitor. In conventional silicon capacitors, trenches are generally formed in silicon wafer using reactive ion etching (RIE) method to expand their surface area. However, with this method, the depth of trenches that can be formed was limited. Furthermore, since RIE method processes silicon wafer only one by one, productivity is low. In this paper, Metal-assisted Chemical Etching (MacEtch) is proposed as a novel method of fabricating high-density silicon capacitors to solve the problems. We used gold formed by electroless plating as a catalyst and controlled them by forming conditions. As a result, vertical trenches greater than 100 μm depth and less than 1 μm width could be formed on a silicon wafer. The silicon wafer on which these trenches are formed has a surface area 100 times or more as compared with the case where there is no trench. We formed a dielectric film and electrodes on these trench surfaces. Consequently, we have realized a silicon capacitors with a capacitance density as high as 200 nF / mm2 or more.