Title :
Low damage, highly anisotropic dry etching of SiC
Author :
Wang, J.J. ; Hong, J. ; Lambers, E.S. ; Pearton, S.J. ; Ostling, M. ; Zetterling, C.-M. ; Grow, J.M. ; Ren, F. ; Shul, R.J.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Mater. Sci. & Eng., Florida Univ., Gainesville, FL, USA
Abstract :
A parametric study of the etching characteristics of 6H p+ and n+ SiC and thin film SiC0.5N0.5 in Inductively Coupled Plasma NF3/O2 and NF 3/Ar discharges has been performed. The etch rates in both chemistries increase monotonically with NF3 percentage and rf chuck power. The etch rates go through a maximum with increasing ICP source power, which is explained by a trade-off between the increasing ion flux and the decreasing ion energy. The anisotropy of the etched features is also a function of ion flux, ion energy and atomic fluorine neutral concentration. Indium-tin-oxide (ITO) masks display relatively good etch selectivity over SiC (maximum of ~70:1), while photoresist etches more rapidly than SiC. The surface roughness of SiC is essentially independent of plasma composition for NF3/O2 discharges, while extensive surface degradation occurs for SiCN under high NF3:O2 conditions
Keywords :
plasma materials processing; silicon compounds; sputter etching; surface topography; wide band gap semiconductors; 13.56 MHz; 250 W; 6H n+ SiC; 6H p+ SiC; 750 W; ICP source power; ITO; ITO masks; InSnO; NF3; NF3 percentage; NF3-Ar; NF3-O2; NF3/Ar discharges; NF3/O2 discharges; SiC; SiC0.5N0.5; atomic F neutral concentration; etch anisotropy; etch rates; etch selectivity; etching characteristics; inductively coupled plasma; ion energy; ion flux; low damage highly anisotropic dry etching; photoresist etch; rf chuck power; surface degradation; surface roughness; thin film SiC0.5N0.5; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Dry etching; Noise measurement; Plasma applications; Plasma chemistry; Plasma displays; Rough surfaces; Silicon carbide; Surface discharges; Surface roughness;
Conference_Titel :
High Temperature Electronics Conference, 1998. HITEC. 1998 Fourth International
Conference_Location :
Albuquerque, NM
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4540-1
DOI :
10.1109/HITEC.1998.676752
