Comparison of quarter micron silicon dioxide profile control in electron-cyclotron-resonance and multidipole confined inductively coupled plasmas

Summary form only given, as follows. An electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) and a multidipole confined inductively coupled plasma (MCICP) etching tool were used to etch high aspect ratio (4:1) 0.25 /spl mu/m features in silicon dioxide films. The effect of source microwave power, wafer stage rf-bias power and etching time on the etching uniformity and the etch profile in CHF/sub 3/ plasmas were explored and compared. The uniformity was optimized at high microwave power. With the ECR, the higher aspect ratio etching was obtained when the wafer stage rf bias power was higher than 100 W. With ECR operation conditions at 1200 W of microwave power, 3 mTorr and 100 W rf-bias power, the average etch rate was 318 nm/min. Anisotropic etching profiles were optimized in the two tools to minimize critical dimension (CD) loss. Conditions to achieve this optimization for the two tools will be described.