Optimized ICP etching process for fabrication of oblique GaN sidewall and its application in LED

Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching of GaN is systemically investigated by changing ICP power/RF bias power, operating pressure, and Cl₂/BCl₃ gas mixing ratio. The hexagonal etch pits related to screw dislocation existing along GaN epitaxial layer were observed on the etched GaN surface after ICP etching. The intensity of band-edge emission is significantly reduced from the etched n-GaN surface, which reveals that plasma-induced damage are generated after ICP etching. The oblique sidewall is transferred into GaN using a combination of Cl₂/BCl₃ plasma chemistry and hard mask SiO₂. By adjusting ICP etching process parameters, oblique sidewalls with various oblique angles can be formed, allowing for conformal metal lines coverage across the mesa structures, which can play an important role in the interconnection of multiple microchips for light emitting diodes (LEDs) fabrication.     

In situ endpoint detection of reactive ion-beam etching of dielectric gratings with an etch-stop layer using downstream mass spectrometry

Downstream mass spectrometry is successfully used in the reactive ion-beam etching of dielectric diffraction gratings of deep grooves with vertical sidewalls to achieve in situ endpoint detection. Silica (SiO₂) gratings with a Sc₂O₃ etch-stop layer are fabricated by reactive ion-beam etching with CHF₃ as etchant, and the mass spectrometric signal of SiF₃⁺ produced by the reactive etching of the SiO₂ grating material is monitored. When the etch-stop layer is reached, a drop of this signal occurs. By comparing the monitoring curves and resulting gratings of different etching methods, we find that the decrease of the monitored signal is strongly influenced by the sidewall steepness of the etched grating grooves. All conditions being equal, the greater sidewall steepness renders the faster decrease of the signal. Consequently, the proposed approach of endpoint detection applies well to the gratings with steep sidewalls. With the help of two previously developed methods, the sidewall steepness of grating grooves is increased, and the optimal endpoint is detected. Employing the proposed technique, we have reproducibly fabricated dielectric gratings with proper groove depth and even groove bottom.     

Correlation Length Measurement of Sidewall Roughness of Dry Etched Facet and Its Effect on Reflectivity

Dry etching is an important tool to fabricate various semiconductor photonic devices. The roughness of etched sidewalls should be avoided as it reduces the scattering loss. We present a spatial frequency analysis of the sidewall roughness of dry etched facets processed by reactive ion etching. A characteristic parameter corresponding to a correlation length is estimated to be ∼0.5 μm. In addition, its effect on reflectivities of etched reflectors is discussed.     

Surface processing with partially ionized plasmas

Partially ionized plasmas are used extensively to process surfaces in many areas of technology. Surface processing in this discussion includes deposition of thin films, etching of the surface itself, and modification of the existing surface by oxidation, nitriding, or texturing. Unique materials can be synthesized in reactive gas glow discharges. The development and optimization of plasma processes is impeded by both a lack of understanding of the mechanistic details and by the formidable parameter space associated with plasma equipment. The complexity of the reactive gas plasma environment coupled with the large parameter space causes difficulty in process development and optimization, but offers opportunities for discovery and invention. The ability of partially ionized plasmas to generate uniform fluxes over wide areas of energetic ions and/or reactive neutral atoms or radicals can be expected to ensure continued widespread applications for the plasma processing of surfaces     

RIE-induced damage and contamination in silicon

Abstract

Reactive ion etching always causes a dynamic radiation effect to crystalline silicon, beacause of an energetic particle bombardment. RIE induced radiation effects are mostly confined to the near surface within a projected range of impinging ions, but point defects, which are highly mobile at room temperatures, can migrate further into the bulk before a damaged surface layer is etched away. Competition between etch rates and damage rates ultimately determines a degree of the RIE damage residue: the slower the etch rate, the heavier the damage may be accumulated at the near surface, eventually leading to amorphization of the surface region. Also, a removal of the surface layer due to etching or sputtering enhances a chemical reaction between a bare surface and incoming radicals. This easily forms a foreign material on the surface which gives rise to a serious contamination problem. A post-cleaning at a low temperature is highly desirable whenever the surface of active devices must be exposed to reactive plasmas.     

提高离子束刻蚀亚微米光栅侧壁陡直度的方法

现代亚微米光栅的应用通常要求栅脊侧壁陡直。通过比较两种配备不同离子源的刻蚀机的反应离子束刻蚀结果,认为影响亚微米光栅侧壁陡直度的一个重要因素是离子束发散角(束散角),且小束散角有利于获得陡直的光栅侧壁。国内应用最广泛的双栅考夫曼刻蚀机束散角较大(大于13°),致使用常规方法获得的熔石英光栅的侧壁倾角仅为77°。针对此刻蚀机,尝试了三种提高侧壁陡直度的方法:旋转倾斜刻蚀法、交替倾斜刻蚀法和二次金属掩模法,分别把侧壁倾角提高到86°、86°和82°。最后从掩模侧壁收缩速率和槽底部与顶部离子通量的差异对束散角对侧壁陡直度的影响给予解释,并说明了上述三种方法的工作机理。     

Diagnostics of Low-Pressure Oxygen RF Plasmas and the Mechanism for Polymer Etching: A Comparison of Reactive Sputter Etching and Magnetron Sputter Etching

We have compared low-pressure oxygen RF plasmas and the etching of photoresist in a reactive sputter etch reactor and in a magnetron etch reactor using Langmuir probe, optical emission actinometry, and mass spectrometry measurements. The Langmuir probe data allow the determination of the plasma ion density and electron temperature, and thus the ion flux onto the substrate. The optical data yield information on the presence of O atoms and O2+ ions. Stable reactant and product species are monitored with a mass spectrometer. The main difference between the two reactors is that in magnetron sputter etching (MSE), the ion flux to the substrate is about an order of magnitude higher, under comparable plasma conditions, than in reactive sputter etching (RSE). This accounts for the higher etch rate in MSE. However, the etch yield per ion is higher in RSE because of the higher ion energy. Etch rates correlate neither with the ion flux to the substrate nor with the density of O atoms in the plasma, but change in parallel with the consumption of reactant gas. We conclude that in etching a polymer in a low-pressure oxygen plasma, the main neutral reactant species are O2 molecules, and an important role of the ions is to remove reaction products from the substrate surface.     

Nano-structuring of PTFE surface by plasma treatment,etching, and sputtering with gold

Properties of pristine, plasma modified, and etched (by water and methanol) polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) were studied. Gold nanolayers sputtered on this modified PTFE have been also investigated. Contact angle, measured by goniometry, was studied as a function of plasma exposure and post-exposure aging times. Degradation of polymer chains was examined by etching of plasma modified PTFE in water or methanol. The amount of ablated and etched layer was measured by gravimetry. In the next step the pristine, plasma modified, and etched PTFE was sputtered with gold. Changes in surface morphology were observed using atomic force microscopy. Chemical structure of modified polymers was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Surface chemistry of the samples was investigated by electrokinetic analysis. Sheet resistance of the gold layers was measured by two-point technique. The contact angle of the plasma modified PTFE decreases with increasing exposure time. The PTFE amount, ablated by the plasma treatment, increases with the plasma exposure time. XPS measurements proved that during the plasma treatment the PTFE macromolecular chains are degraded and oxidized and new –C–O–C–, –C=O, and –O–C=O groups are created in modified surface layer. Surface of the plasma modified PTFE is weakly soluble in methanol and intensively soluble in water. Zeta potential and XPS shown dramatic changes in PTFE surface chemistry after the plasma exposure, water etching, and gold deposition. When continuous gold layer is formed a rapid decrease of the sheet resistance of the gold layer is observed.     

Inductively Coupled Plasma and Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma Etching of an InGaAlP Compound Semiconductor System

Current and future generations of sophisticated compound semiconductor devices require the ability for submicron scale patterning. The situation is being complicated because some of the new devices are based on a wider diversity of materials to be etched. Conventional RIE (reactive ion etching) has been prevalent across the industry so far, but has limitations for materials with high bond strengths or multiple elements. In this article, we suggest high-density plasmas such as ECR (electron cyclotron resonance) and ICP (inductively coupled plasma), for the etching of ternary compound semiconductors (InGaP, AlInP, AlGaP) that are employed for electronic devices such as heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) or high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), and photonic devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and lasers. Operating at lower pressure, high-density plasma sources are expected to meet target goals determined in terms of etch rate, surface morphology, surface stoichiometry, selectivity, etc. The etching mechanisms that are described in this article can also be applied to other III-V (GaAs-based, InP-based) as well as III-Nitride, because the InGaAlP system shares many of the same properties.     

The effect of fluorine-based plasma treatment on morphology and chemical surface composition of biocompatible silicone elastomer

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been used to investigate the effect of reactive ion etching (RIE) on poly(methylhydrogensiloxane-co-dimethylsiloxane) surface in fluorine-based plasmas. Polysiloxane layers supported on the standard silicon wafers were etched using SF₆ + O₂ or CF₄ + O₂ plasmas. SEM studies show that the polysiloxane morphology depends on plasma chemical composition strongly. Presence of a columnar layer likely covered with a fluorine rich compound was found on the elastomer surface after the CF₄ + O₂ plasma exposure. After the SF₆ + O₂ or CF₄ + O₂ plasma treatment the polysiloxane surface enriches with fluorine or with fluorine and aluminum, respectively. Different morphologies and surface chemical compositions of the silicone elastomer etched in both plasmas indicate different etching mechanisms.     

Influence of the ion charge sign on the stimulation of plasmochemical etching of silicon

The influence of ions with different charge signs on the stimulation of silicon etching under plasma conditions is studied. Fluorine radicals are produced in a glow discharge with a nonuniform pressure. A beam of positive or negative ions is created using a Penning ion source. The flow of fluorine radicals and the ion beam are superposed on a silicon surface placed in a high vacuum. Positive ions may be converted into fast neutrals via resonance charge exchange in the parent gas. It is shown that fast neutrals have the highest catalytic effect. The catalytic effect of positive ions is about two times less. Negative ions occupy the intermediate position. For the first time, it is found that some kinds of ions (e.g., molecular oxygen) do not accelerate, but rather decelerate the etching process; i.e., they behave as inhibitors.     

CVD金刚石中的氮对等离子体刻蚀的影响

采用非对称磁镜场电子回旋共振等离子体分别对沉积过程中掺氮和未掺氮的化学气相沉积金刚石膜进行了刻蚀研究, 结果表明: 掺氮制备的金刚石膜的刻蚀主要集中在晶棱处, 经过4h刻蚀后其表面粗糙度由刻蚀前的4.761 μm下降至3.701 μm, 刻蚀对金刚石膜的表面粗糙度的影响较小; 而未掺氮制备的金刚石膜的刻蚀表现为晶面的均匀刻蚀, 晶粒坍塌,刻蚀4h后其表面粗糙度由刻蚀前的3.061 μm下降至1.083 μm. 刻蚀导致表面粗糙度显著降低. 上述差别的主要原因在于金刚石膜沉积过程中掺氮导致氮缺陷在金刚石晶棱处富集, 晶棱处电子发射加强, 引导离子向晶棱运动并产生刻蚀, 从而加剧晶棱的刻蚀. 而未掺氮金刚石膜,其缺陷相对较少且分布较均匀 ,刻蚀时整体呈现为 (111) 晶面被均匀刻蚀继而晶粒坍塌的现象. 关键词： 掺氮 金刚石膜 刻蚀 非对称磁镜场     

The effect of hydrogen as an additive in reactive ion etching of GaAs for obtaining polished surface

The effect of hydrogen on the reactive ion etching (RIE) of GaAs in the CF₂Cl₂ plasma is discussed. The addition of hydrogen into the reaction mixture improves the sharpness of etch borders; the etched surface is smooth for etching depth > 1 μm, etching rate is time-constant.     

Investigations on the effect of process parameters on the growth of vertically oriented graphene sheet in plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition system

A multistage numerical model comprising the plasma kinetics and surface deposition sub-models is developed to study the influence of process parameters, namely, total gas pressure and input plasma power on the plasma chemistry and growth characteristics of vertically oriented graphene sheets (VOGS) grown in the plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition system containing the Ar + H₂ + C₂H₂ reactive gas mixture. The spectral and spatial distributions of temperature and number densities, respectively, of plasma species, that is, charged and neutral species in the plasma reactor, are examined using inductively coupled plasma module of COMSOL Multiphysics 5.2 modelling suite. The numerical data from the computational plasma model are fed as the input parameters for the surface deposition model, and from the simulation results, it is found that there is a significant drop in the densities of various plasma species as one goes from the bulk plasma region to the substrate surface. The significant loss of the energetic electrons is observed in the plasma region at high pressure (for constant input power) and low input power (for constant gas pressure). At low pressure, the carbon species generate at higher rates on the catalyst nanoislands surface, thus enhancing the growth and surface density of VOGS. However, it is found that VOGS growth rate increases when input plasma power is raised from 100 to 300 W and decreases with further increase in the plasma power. A good comparison of the model outcomes with the available experimental results confirms the adequacy of the present model.     

Reactive ion etching of FePt using inductively coupled plasma

We propose a reactive ion etching (RIE) process of an L1₀-FePt film which is expected as one of the promising materials for the perpendicular magnetic recording media. The etching was carried out using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) RIE system and an etching gas combination of CH₄/O₂/NH₃ was employed. The L1₀-FePt films were deposited on (1 0 0)-oriented MgO substrates using a magnetron sputtering system. The etching masks of Ti were patterned on the FePt films lithographically. The etch rates of ∼16 and ∼0 nm/min were obtained for the FePt film and the Ti mask, respectively. The atomic force microscopy (AFM) analyses provided the average roughness (R_a) value of 0.95 nm for the etched FePt surface, that is, a very flat etched surface was obtained. Those results show that the highly selective RIE process of L1₀-FePt was successfully realized in the present study.     

Reaction of hydrogen with chlorine during reactive ionic etching

The role of the chain mechanism of the interaction of chlorine with hydrogen in the gas phase during the reactive ionic etching (RIE) of GaAs in a CF₂Cl₂ plasma is discussed. In the presence of hydrogen, more volatile products are formed, and, as a result, the rate of etching becomes time-independent, while the boundary of etching becomes less diffuse and the etched surface appears to be smooth up to a depth of etching of >1 μm. The interaction of short-lived free radicals with the substrate is treated as heterogeneous chain termination.     

Auger analysis of etched (100) GaAs surfaces

The Auger depth profiling technique has been used to study the surface oxygen coverage and stoichiometry of (100) GaAs surfaces etched in various etching solutions. The quality of the surface varies with the etching solution, the etching time and the relative concentrations of the agents in each solution. The electrical behaviour of Schottky contacts deposited on the etched surfaces, was clearly affected by the characteristics of the surface.     

Two-dimensional simulation of polysilicon etching with chlorine ina high density plasma reactor

A two-dimensional fluid simulation of polysilicon etching with chlorine in an inductively-coupled high density plasma source is presented. A modular approach was used to couple in a self-consistent manner the disparate time scales of plasma and neutral species transport. This way, complex plasma chemical reactions (involving electrons, ions and neutrals) as well as surface chemistry can be included in the simulation, The power deposited into the plasma was calculated by an electromagnetics module which solves Maxwell's equations. The power deposition was used in the electron energy module to find the electron temperature and the rate coefficients of electron-impact reactions. These were in turn used as source terms in separate neutral and charged species transport modules. By iterating among the modules, a self-consistent solution was obtained. Quantities of interest, such as power deposition, species density and flux, and etch rate and uniformity were thus calculated, As power deposition was increased, the electron density increased linearly, the plasma became less electronegative, the degree of gas dissociation increased, and the plasma potential remained constant. The radial uniformity of the Cl atom flux was better than that of the ion flux. The reactivity of the wafer as compared to that of the surrounding electrode surface significantly affected the etch uniformity, despite the low pressure of 10 mtorr     

Dry etching of zinc-oxide and indium-zinc-oxide in IBr and BI3 plasma chemistries

The dry etching characteristics of bulk single-crystal zinc-oxide (ZnO) and RF-sputtered indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) films have been investigated using an inductively coupled high-density plasma in Ar/IBr and Ar/BI₃. In both plasma chemistries, the etch rate of ZnO is very similar to that of IZO, which indicates that zinc and indium atoms are driven by a similar plasma etching dynamics. IBr and BI₃-based plasmas show no enhancement of the etch rate over pure physical sputtering under the same experimental conditions. The etched surface morphologies are smooth, independent of the discharge chemistry. From Auger electron spectroscopy, it is found that the near-surface stoichiometry is unchanged within experimental error, indicating a low degree of plasma-induced damage.     

Elucidating surface properties of dry-etched ZnO using H2/CH4 and H2/CH4/Ar plasma

This paper reports a study of reactive ion etching (RIE) of n-ZnO in H₂/CH₄ and H₂/CH₄/Ar gas mixtures. Variables in the experiment were gas flow ratios, radio-frequency (rf) plasma power, and total pressure. Structural and electrical parameters of the etched surfaces and films were determined. Both the highest surface roughness and highest etching rate of ZnO films were obtained with a maximum rf power of 300 W, but at different gas flow ratios and working pressures. These results were expected because increasing the rf power increased the bond-breaking efficiency of ZnO. The highest degree of surface roughness was a result of pure physical etching by H₂ gas without mixed CH₄ gas. The highest etching rate was obtained from physical etching of H₂/Ar species associated with chemical reaction of CH₄ species. Additionally, the H₂/CH₄/Ar plasma treatment drastically decreased the specific contact and sheet resistance of the ZnO films. These results indicated that etching the ZnO film had roughened the surface and reduced its resistivity to ohmic contact, supporting the application of a roughened transparent contact layer (TCL) in light-emitting diodes (LEDs).