Study of Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching of ZnS Materials

Abstract

Abstract. In order to get the optimized process parameters for etching ZnS by inductively coupled plasma (ICP), a mixed gas of CH4, H2 and Ar is used for the etching. This paper studies the influence of ICP etching rate and surface roughness after etching of ZnS by changing the process parameters of CH4/H2/Ar gas mixing ratio, the total flow, bias power and RF power. The experimental result show that when CH4:H2:Ar=1:7:5, the gas flow is 39 sccm, bias power is 80W, and RF power is 300W, the etching rate of ZnS is 18.5 nm/min and the minimum surface roughness Ra is 6.3 nm; the change of Ar content has a great influence on the etching rate and surface roughness.