Relationship between bonding characteristics and etch-durability of amorphous carbon layer

Kwon, Jeong Hyun; Park, S.Y.L.; Seo, Ki-Soo; Ban, Wonjin; Park, G.O.; Lee, D.D.

doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2013.01.083

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The patterned wafer was manufactured by a chip-maker of a memory semiconductor. The ACL hard mask was deposited within a low-pressure regime of a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition chamber, utilizing C 2 H 2 gas as the carbon source and a combination of Ar, N 2 , and He gases, as documented in ref , . The width of the ACL hard mask opening was 245 nm.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of Oxygen in Amorphous Carbon Hard Mask Plasma Etching

Yeom,

Yoon,

Choi

et al. 2023

ACS Omega

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In the current and next-generation Si-based semiconductor manufacturing processes, amorphous carbon layer (ACL) hard masks are garnering considerable attention for highaspect-ratio (HAR) etching due to their outstanding physical properties. However, a current limitation is the lack of research on the etching characteristics of ACL hard masks under plasma etching conditions. Given the significant impact of hard mask etching on device quality and performance, a deeper understanding of the etching characteristics of ACL is necessary. This study aims to investigate the role of oxygen in the etching characteristics of an ACL hard mask in a complex gas mixture plasma etching process. Our results show that a small change of oxygen concentration (3.5−6.5%) can significantly alter the etch rate and profile of the ACL hard mask. Through our comprehensive plasma diagnostics and wafer-processing results, we have also proven a detailed mechanism for the role of the oxygen gas. This research provides a solution for achieving an outstanding etch profile in ACL hard masks with sub-micron scale and emphasizes the importance of controlling the oxygen concentration to optimize the plasma conditions for the desired etching characteristics.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role of Oxygen in Amorphous Carbon Hard Mask Plasma Etching

Yeom,

Yoon,

Choi

et al. 2023

ACS Omega

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“…Carbon-based materials, such as amorphous carbon − and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH), − have been used as an intermediate etch resist over the past decade because they are compatible with the conventional processes used in the semiconductor industry, produce no contaminants during patterning, and are easily removed by oxygen plasma . However, carbon-based etch resists have reached their limit of etch resistance with the continuous downsizing of semiconductor features; this restricts the lateral resolution and achievable depth of the substrate pattern.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graphene-Based Etch Resist for Semiconductor Device Fabrication

Kim

Seol

Cho

et al. 2020

ACS Appl. Nano Mater.

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As the feature size of semiconductor devices decreases, the resist layer with high etch resistance is required to achieve fine pattern transfer during lithography. Conventional resists (e.g., amorphous carbon layers and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon films) have reached the limit of etch resistance. Here, we proposed graphene as an etch resist in lithographic process for future semiconductor device. First-principles simulation and experimental reactive ion etching (RIE) revealed that the etch resistance of single-layer graphene (SLG) with the sp 2 carbon fully connected hexagonal structure is superior to that of conventional carbon resist, with an etch selectivity against SiO 2 reaching ∼20. Furthermore, we experimentally confirmed that wafer-scale graphene films, prepared via complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible processes, show etch resistances several times higher than those of conventional resists and allow successful pattern transfer to the underlying substrate. This study demonstrates the potential of graphene as an advanced etch resist for future lithographic technologies.

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“…As a hard mask for high aspect ratio etching of various applications, an amorphous carbon layer (ACL) has been actively used, and recently a boron and nitrogen doped plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) amorphous carbon layer was proposed to reduce the ACL etch rate for high aspect ratio etching [4]. However, the bonding characteristics of the C=C/C=H x ratio determine the dry etching durability of the hard mask, and the C 2 H 2 contents or the plasma discharge power were found to be related parameters for the bonding characteristics [5]. To ensure high aspect ratio etching in semiconductor manufacturing, the procedure also depends on the quality of the hard mask in use.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An in situ monitoring method for PECVD process equipment condition

Kang¹,

An²,

Kim³

et al. 2019

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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A key to successful consistent plasma processing is maintaining a consistent process chamber condition over a certain production period. To alleviate the concern, in situ process monitoring sensors are employed to investigate the plasma chamber conditions of both the deposition step with direct plasma and the cleaning step with a remote plasma system. In situ sensors are optical emission spectroscopy (OES), optical plasma monitoring sensors (OPMS), voltage current probes (VI-probes), and self-plasma OES (SP-OES). During the deposition, we perform the monitoring of a plasma condition associated with the applied RF power via OES, OPMS, and a VI-probe. In the chamber cleaning step using a remote plasma system does not allow plasma monitoring through the sidewall because the plasma is not formed in the process chamber, thus we employed SP-OES to monitor the by-product gas chemistry during the chamber cleaning process step. Successful monitoring results with some useful applications, such as arc detection, part failure detection, and cleaning process chemistry analysis, are presented in this paper. The use of in situ sensors with proper combination can help to understand the plasma process better, to achieve more precise control of plasma processing.

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Relationship between bonding characteristics and etch-durability of amorphous carbon layer

Cited by 10 publications

References 13 publications

Role of Oxygen in Amorphous Carbon Hard Mask Plasma Etching

Role of Oxygen in Amorphous Carbon Hard Mask Plasma Etching

Graphene-Based Etch Resist for Semiconductor Device Fabrication

An in situ monitoring method for PECVD process equipment condition

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