Course Title: VLSI Technology

Course No.: EEE 489

VLSI Class lecture -4
Introduction to Etching
Etching
 In Lithography technique, photo resist covering the surface of
a semiconductor wafer. To produce circuit features, these
resist patterns must be transferred into the underlying layers
comprising the device. The pattern transfer is accomplished by
an etching process that selectively removes unmasked
portions of a layer.
 Simply, Etching is used to remove material from wafer.

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Etching…
Hardened Photo-resist
SiO2
Photo resist development

Hardened Photo resist

SiO2
Etching After etching SiO2 is removed

Material is removed from the areas of the wafer that are not
covered by the photo-resist through etching process

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Etching Techniques
Two types of etching usually performed:
(i) Wet etching
(ii) Dry etching (Reactive Plasma or plasma Etching)

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Wet etching
Wet etching is accomplished by using many different
types of acid, base and caustic solutions as a function
of material that is to be removed. For instance,
hydrochloric (HCl) acid buffered with ammonium
fluoride (NH4F) is typically used to etch SiO2. Wet
etching is extensively used in semiconductor
processing.

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Dry etching (Reactive Plasma Etching)
In dry or plasma etching, the wafer is placed into the etch tool’s
processing chamber and the negative electrode attached to the
region to be etched.

The chamber is heated to 100C and brought to a vacuum level of

10 mTorr.

The chamber is then filled with a positively charged plasma by

supplying a mixture of chlorine (Cl) and boron trichloriide
(BCl3).

Plasma etching offers a well-defined directionality to the etching

action, creating patterns with sharp vertical contours.

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Comparison between Wet and Dry Etching

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 Plasma
Plasma State is the 4th state & dominant form of matters
and 99% of the Universe is in Plasma State.
Plasma is the mixture of electrons, positive & negative ions,
neutral atoms & molecules and excited species.
It is electrically neutral but a good conductor of electricity.

 
Ionization -
Latent heat
- - -
Latent heat potential or
Solid Liquid Gas Plasma
dissociation
energy

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How does Plasma sustain?
When external field is applied, electrons receive energy from the
external field and translate the energy to gas species through
inelastic collisions processes (dissociation, excitation, ionization,
secondary ionization)
The following processes increase the species density in the plasma.
AB + e  A + B + e Dissociation
AB + e  A- + B+ + e Dissociative attachment
A + e  A+ + 2e Ionization
The following processes decrease the species density in the plasma.
A- + B +  A + B Ion-Ion recombination
A+ + e  A Electron-ion recombination
When dynamic equilibrium reached (number of charged particles
remains constant) the plasma is to be self-sustained.
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Classification of Plasmas
 Based on particle density and distribution:
1. Low pressure non-equilibrium plasmas
2. Atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasmas
3. High pressure equilibrium plasmas
 Based on generation techniques:
1. Induction plasmas
2. Capacitively coupled plasmas
3. Arc plasmas (DC and AC)
4. Microwave plasmas
5. Dielectric barrier discharge etc.
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Induction plasma
Induction plasma is a widely used plasma discharge due to some of its
features. It offers several unique advantages over ARC plasma and
other types of plasmas.
Advantages of Induction Plasmas:
 It is an electrodeless contamination free discharge, thus, very clean.
 It has several application in material processing.
 Highly chemically reactive.
 No corrosion and damage of apparatus, thus provide long lifetime of
apparatus.
 It can be sustained over a wide rage of pressure i.e pressure
variation can be possible (e.g- soft vacuum to several atm)
 It is a High-enthalpy and highly radiative plasma source.

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Induction plasma torch including the reaction chamber

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Plasma Chemistry in Etching
CF4-O2 Plasma is used to etch Si or SiO2
But, when Only CF4-O2 Plasma is used no appreciable etching
occurs. Because, Atomic F is active etchant for Si and SiO2 by
the formation of volatile SiF4 and O2.
Si + 4F  SiF4 
SiO2 + 4F  SiF4 + O2 

CF4 continuously undergoes dissociative collisions to form CFx

(x≤3) and F. At the same time recombination of these species
occurs. Thus, concentration of F atoms is directly related to the
difference of rate of two reactions.

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Effects of O2 and H2 addition on etching rate
Effects of O2 addition:
 Addition of O2 to the plasma leads to formation of COF2, CO
and CO2, which decreases the concentration of CFx thereby
decreasing the CFx-F recombination rate.
 Thus, concentration of F atoms increases with the addition of
O2 and hence the etching rate increases.

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Effects of O2 and H2 addition on etching rate…
Effects of H2 addition:
CFx + Si  C + SiFy
The reaction of C on the etching surface with F and/or H results in
fluorocarbons and hydrocarbons, which polymerize on the Si
surface, which reduces the etching rate.
In case of SiO2, no polymerization occurs and in etching, H2
addition does not have significant effect.
CFx + SiO2  SiFy + (CO, CO2)

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