Plasma damage characterization of the Lam TCPTM 9600PTX high-density, inductively coupled metal etcher and microwave asher

In the design of any new plasma processing equipment, it is of paramount importance to consider the potential for wafer charging and the device damage which might result from it. Plasma nonuniformity has been found to be an issue by a number of workers, although recent work has suggested that nonuniformities must be severe (>±20%) before causing significant damage. For many metal etching applications, electron shading may be a more significant charging mechanism. In this case, the magnitude of the charging is determined primarily by the absolute plasma density, the electron temperature and the aspect ratio of the wafer structures. A new metal etching system, the TCP^TM 9600PTX, has recently been introduced by Lam Research Corporation. This paper describes the features of the chamber which were designed to minimize charging damage. Both CHARM wafers and full flow SPIDER testers have been run to characterize the final performance with regard to damage