Sec VI, L 16-17: Etching: MEL G611: Ic Fabrication Technology

28-09-2018
MEL G611 :
IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY
Section VII: Thin Film Deposition
Sat, 15 Sept; Tue, 18 Sept; Thu, 20 Sept;
BITS Pilani Sat, 22 Sept
Hyderabad Campus
Sanket Goel, EEE
Sec VI, L 16-17: Etching

• Sat, 8 Sept; Tue, 11 Sept
• Learning Objectives
o Learn different etching techniques involved in device
fabrication
• Topics covered –
o Wet Etching
o Dry Etching
MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 2 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus
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28-09-2018
Sec VII, L 18-21: TFD

• Sat, 15 Sept; Tue, 18 Sept; Thu, 20 Sept; Sat, 22 Sept
o Understand different techniques to deposit thin films
• Topics to be covered –
o Chemical vapor deposition
o Poly-Si and
o Dielectric deposition
Why Thin Films?

• Layers are deposited in the Si
substrate
o Dielectrics /
Semiconductors / Metals
• Need to discuss several issues about thin film

o Quality – composition, contamination, defects, properties
o Uniform thickness of thin film?
o Filling spaces between or within structures?
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28-09-2018
TFD - Issues
TFD - types
• Two methods
o Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)
o Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD)
• In each case the constituents of the film are delivered through

the gas phase to the surface of the substrate.
• CVD  reactant gases are introduced in the chamber and

chemical reactions are take place to grow films.
• PVD  constituent of atoms are passed through a low pressure

gas phase and condense on the substrate.
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PVD vs CVD
• PVD  atom fluxes are produce by heating a solid or molten
source until it vaporizes and then bombarding a solid source
with energetic ions formed in a plasma.
• Low pressure also used in CVD but not at nearly as low

pressure as in PVD
• CVD  used mainly for silicon and dielectric deposition

due to its good quality films and good step coverage.
• PVD  used for metal deposition, mostly due to its ability to

deposit a variety of metals and alloys.
Figure of Merit
• Mean composition, contamination
Quality of the levels, defect density, and mechanical
deposited film and electrical properties.
• Uniform film thickness on both

Uniform horizontal and vertical surfaces, or a
thickness across step coverage of one
a wafer
• Good coverage at the bottom of a

Good coverage space is required. Often quantify by
or filling the feature aspect ratio (height / width)
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BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus
Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)
CVD: Introduction
• Gases are introduced into the chamber to react and form the
desired film on the surface
• Either a single gas or multiple gases can be used to form film
• Walls of the chambers is not heated ⇒ "cold wall" reactor
• Wafers are heated by

graphite susceptor
heated by RF
induction ⇒ minimizes
the deposition on the
reactor walls
• Normally used for
epitaxial silicon and
silicon dioxide film Atmospheric cold wall CVD system
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28-09-2018
Atmospheric Pressure CVD (APCVD)

1. Transport of reactants
by forced convection to
the deposition region
2. Transport of reactants
by diffusion from the
main gas stream
through the boundary
layer of the wafer
surface.
3. Adsorption of reactants • Step 2  mass transfer of
of the wafer surface reactants through the
Surface processes, i.e., boundary layer
chemical decomposition
or

4. Reaction, chemical
migration, and other
surface reaction
5. Desorption of byproducts
from the surface
6. Transport of byproducts
by diffusion through the
boundary layer and back
to the main gas stream.
• Steps 2 – 5  film growth
7. Transport of byproducts rate
by forced convection
• Steps 3-5  classify them
away from the
together as surface
deposition region
reactions
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Deposition Velocity
ks  chemical surface reaction rate (cm/sec)

hG  mass transfer coefficient (cm/sec)
CT  concentration of all molecules in gas phase
N  number of atoms per unit volume
Y = CG/CT
• If ks << hG Surface reaction controlled case
• If ks >> hG Mass-transfer / gas-phase diffusion controlled

case

Deposition Velocity
• If ks << hG
• If ks >> hG
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28-09-2018
Silicon Deposited by CVD
(Little T dependence)
(T dependence,
same slope)
Experimental data for Si deposition (4 difference sources)

at atmospheric pressure
Silicon Deposited by CVD

Boundary layer velocities along susceptor, where δS is the
thickness of the boundary layer.
•  gas density
• µ  gas viscosity
• U  bulk gas velocity
• hG  mass transfer
coefficient (cm/sec)
• DG  diffusivity
• δS increases with distance in direction of gas flow

o hG decreases
o For mass transfer limited case
 DG should decrease from front to back
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28-09-2018
Limitation of APCVD
• If deposition occur at mass transfer limit region
o To achieve uniform doping, wafers are placed horizontally
⇒ throughput is less!
• If deposition occurs at surface reaction limit region, then

one can place the wafer vertically in side the chamber
• However, the deposition rate is poor at surface reaction limit

region!
• One can improve the deposition rate by reducing the

pressure inside the chamber.
• Low-Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition
LPCVD
Low pressure hot wall CVD system

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28-09-2018
LPCVD
Deposition Rate
ks  surface reaction coefficient

hG  mass transfer coefficient
CT  concentration of molecules in gas phase
N  number of atoms per unit volume
DG  diffusivity
S  boundary layer thickness
• δS increases if Ptotal decrease ⇒ But not in proportion;

o 1 atm → 1 torr ⇒ 3 to 10 times decrease!
o So, effect on hG is approximately 100 times ⇒
 deposition rate increase to 1.4 µm min−1
LPCVD
• Since, hG is much larger at
low pressure
o Mass transfer through
the boundary layer
becomes much less
important compared to
the surface reaction
• Deposition velocity not limited by mass transfer of reactants

through the gas-phase boundary layer
• Wafers can be placed much closed without affecting the
deposition uniformity
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28-09-2018
Plasma Enhanced CVD (PECVD)

• Some process steps restrict high temperature process
o Like deposition of SiO2 or Si3N4 after depositing Al
o Al melting point is 6600C; and any subsequent process
step must be less than about 4500C!
• LPCVD or APCVD can be used at this low temperature;
o Deposition rate is very low and
o Film quality is poor
• Therefore a dielectric deposition technique is needed,
provides
o Reasonable deposition rate
o Good film quality
o Conformality, and
o Low deposition temperature.
PECVD
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28-09-2018
High Density Plasma CVD (HDPCVD)
• Similar to PECVD, but utilizes a very high density plasma

and a separate RF bias to the substrate
• Basically, it combines PECVD deposition with bias
sputtering in order to fill narrow gaps!
• The high density plasma allows the deposition at
comparatively lower temperature (1500C) and pressure (1-
10 mtorr).
• Using ion bombardments substrate temperature is
increased but make sure that wafer temperature should not
go more than 4000C
• Primarily, used to deposit SiO2
Problem
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Problem
For CVD deposition of a film, it is found that the mass transfer coefficient hG =
10.0 cm sec-1 and the surface reaction rate coefficient kS = 1x107 exp(-1.9
eV/kT) cm sec-1. For a deposition at 900°C, which CVD system would you
recommend using: (a) a cold-walled, graphite susceptor type: or (b) a hot-
walled, stacked wafer type? Explain your answer.
• System will be in the surface reaction controlled regime.

• Transfer of species through the boundary layer in the gas phase is fast and not
important relative to the surface reaction.
• Wafers can be stacked without causing uniformity problems due to gas transport
variations, and achieve maximum throughput.
• Deposition rate is sensitive to temperature, but in a hot-walled system, good
temperature control can be achieved.
Problem
(a) Plot the deposition rate (on a log scale) versus 1/T (K), for 600-1200°C, for a
CVD system with the following parameter values:
• hG = 0.5 cm sec-1
• kS = 4x106 exp(-1.45 eV/kT) cm sec-1
• Partial pressure of incorporating species = 1 torr
• Total pressure = 1 atm
• CT/N=1/10,000
Identify the reaction and mass transfer limited regimes.
(b) Redo the problem when the total pressure is decreased to 1 torr, so that hG
increases by 100 times. Assume that the partial pressure of the incorporating
species remains the same, and CT decreases by the same factor as the total
pressure. (Since both the total pressure and the partial pressure of the
incorporating species equal 1 torr, this means that the gas is made up of
only the incorporating species in this case).
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28-09-2018
Solution
• hG = 0.5 cm sec-1
• kS = 4x106 exp(-1.45 eV/kT) cm sec-1
• CT/N=1/10,000
• Y = 1 torr / 760 torr
• For low pressure case, only hG changes (increased by 100 times).

• CT/N times Pg/Ptotal (=Y) remains constant since N and Pg each remains constant, and
the CT/Ptotal ratio stays constant
• For the 1 atm total pressure case, the transition

between surface reaction controlled and
diffusion controlled is at about 800°C,
• For the low pressure case (“low P”), the
transistion occurs at somewhere above (m/s)
1200°C.
BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus
Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD)

Evaporation
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28-09-2018
PVD
• Physical Processes to deposit the films
• More versatile than CVD, almost any material can be
deposited
• Two methods
o Evaporation
o Sputtering
• Evaporation: of a solid of molten source
• Sputtering: energetic gaseous ions (in a plasma from a
target) travel through a vacuum impinge on wafer and
condense to form a film
• >100 years old
• Sputtering dominates today
Evaporation
• Source material is heated in vacuum
(<10-5 torr)
• Evaporated atoms from source
condense on the surface of the wafer
• Heater  Resistive / e-beam
• E-beam heater
o Higher focused T
o Cleaner process  purer films
o Challenge  X-ray emitted 
may create trapped charges
(removed by annealing)
• High vacuum
o No gas-phase scattering  High mean free path  Atoms
travel in straight path
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28-09-2018
Evaporation: Point source

• Striking Flux
• Deposition rate
o Revp  evaporation rate from the point source

o   solid angle over which source emits evaporated material
o N  density of material
o r  distance from the source to the spot on the surface
o k  angle between surface normal and the direction of the
source to a spot on the surface
o l  distance from center of the wafer holder

o h  length of surface normal
o cos k = h / r
0
o Thickest deposit at l = 0 h
Evaporation: Small surface source

• Deposition rate
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28-09-2018
Evaporation: Emitted flux

• Deviation from ideal point-
source
• Small planer surface 
o cosni in place of cosi
o n > 1  angular
distributions
Evaporation: Pressure vs Temperature

• Source evaporation rate (g/sec)
o Pe  equilibrium vapor pressure (torr)
o As  area of source (cm2)
o m  gram molecular mass
o T  Temperature (K)
• Due to Pe difference,
variation in evaporation
• Alloy creates huge
challenges
• Solution  more
separate e-beams used
on separate sources,
each containing one of
the elements in the alloy
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28-09-2018
Evaporation: Summary
• Advantages
o Little damage to wafer (not subjected to energetic particles)
o Deposited films are very pure (high vacuum)
• Disadvantages
o Metals with low Pe (like W), alloys are difficult to evaporate
o No pre-cleaning available
o Poor step coverage
 Low pressure  large mean free path  species travel
in straight path
 Small source
 Atoms arrive at limited range of angles
 May be solved by rotating the wafers
Evaporation: Step coverage

• Also depends on sticking coefficient
• Important as the species that don’t stick or react may deposit

elsewhere
• Species react and stick locally • Species bounce around before

without desorbing sticking and depositing (like CVD)
• Poorer step coverage and filling • Better step coverage and filling
stability stability
18
28-09-2018
Problem
Calculate the deposition rate for a small planar surface evaporation source in
which θi = 30°, θk = 45°, the evaporation rate is 1 x 10-3 gm sec-1, the distance
from the source to the wafer is 5 cm, and the density of the material being
deposited equal 5 gm cm-3.
Problem
Show that placing the source in an evaporation system at the inside surface of
a sphere facing the center, with the wafers also at the inside surface of the
sphere facing the center, leads to uniform deposition wafer-to-wafer assuming a
small planar surface source.
• Deposition rate will be constant

o Evaporation rate (assumed constant) and r0(constant)]
o At least on the center of each wafer
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28-09-2018
Problem
The new deposition engineer installed the company’s new evaporation system.
Hoping to get uniform depositions on all the wafers mounted on the inside of
the spherical wafer holder, he installed the evaporation source crucible at the
center of the sphere. If the evaporation source behaves like an ideal small area
planar source, what will be the deposition rate as a function of θ
(let the evaporation rate equal 3x10-3 gm sec-1, radius ro equal 10 cm, and the
density of the material being deposited equal 10 gm cm-3).
Sketch a plot of d versus θ for θ from -90° to +90°, and specify the deposition
rate at a point directly facing the planar source (at θ = 0°) and at θ = 90°. Will
uniform depositions result?
Solution
Uniform deposition will not occur

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28-09-2018
BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus
Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD)

Sputtering
Sputtering
• Energetic gaseous ions (in plasma from a target) travel through
a vacuum impinge on wafer and condense to form a film
• Pressure 1-100 m torr (> evaporation)  contamination
o Use of ultra-high purity source gas
• Types
o DC sputter
deposition
o Reactive sputter
deposition
o RF sputter
deposition
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28-09-2018
DC sputter deposition: Voltage Distribution

• Target  cathode, both target and source should be conductive
• Al, W, Ti, silicides can be sputtered
Due to excess of +ve ions

0.1 – 10 mm
Due to incoming ions

& cathode material
DC sputter deposition: Procedure

• Target  cathode, both target and source should be conductive
• Al, W, Ti, silicides can be sputtered
• Target  Different
shapes, sizes & numbers
• Large area target used to
achieve thickness
uniformity
o But arrival angle
distribution needs to
be studied
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28-09-2018
DC sputter deposition: Arrival Angle

• Arrival Angle Distribution (cosn)
Uniform or isotropic Directed or anisotropic

(cosn distribution (n ~1) (cosn distribution (n >>1)
DC sputter deposition: Flux lines

• Arrival Angle Distribution (cosn)
From extended source

From point / small area source
• Wider arrival angle
• Wide emitted angle
(cosn, n ~1)
• Small arrival angle
• Less anisotropic
(cosn, n >>1)
• More uniform step coverage
• Better thickness uniformity
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28-09-2018
DC sputter deposition: Step converge

• Can be improved by making source wider
• High pressure (P)  more gas phase collisions
• Mean free path
d  collision diameter of
molecule (cm)  0.4 nm
• For P = 5 mtorr,  ~1 cm < atoms path length

• Wider arrival angle  Better step coverage
o # of collisions  1 to few (none in evaporation) 
wider arrival angle distribution
o # of resputtered atoms is higher  even wider arrival
angle distribution
o Better step coverage (but worse than CVD)
DC sputter deposition: Yield

• Deposition of alloys and compounds  much more
controllable
o Sputtering yield of different elements are much
more similar
o Sputtering occurs just from the top target surface
 fast development of steady state
o Overall target composition remain at its original
value
• SiO2 and WSi2 may be sputtered  Co-sputtering
o WSi2 can be sputtered by simultaneously using W
target and Si target
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28-09-2018
Reactive & RF sputter deposition

• Reactive gas is introduced alongwith Ar plasma
• Compound is formed by elements of that gas combining with
sputtered material
o TiN can be deposited by sputtering Ti in presence of N2
o Plasma provided energy to convert N2 to alomic N2
o Reaction on surface (not plasma)
• RF  for insulation deposition
using High frequency AC
• DC 13.56 MHz,
• Mass & mobility difference (ions &
e-)  continuous sputtering
m = 4 (theoretically)
1 < m < 2  experimentally
Models for Deposition

• Generalized picture of CVD
(gas flow) and PVD
(sputtering / heating) is
shown
• Net flux calculated based on
all fluxes arriving (positive)
and leaving (negative) at
same spot
• Net flux at each point
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28-09-2018
Models for LVCVD
Models for LVCVD
gik  geometrical factor between I & k

Sc  sticking coefficient
26
28-09-2018
Problem
Models for PECVD
Kd rate cont for non-ion-enhanced component

Ki rate cont for ion-enhanced component
Fi  total ion flux
Sc  sticking coefficient
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28-09-2018
Models for standard PVD
• Save as LPCVD
• Different values Sc and
arrival angle distribution
Models for high temperature PVD
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28-09-2018
Models for ionized PVD
Problem
Calculate the mean free path of a particle in the gas phase of a deposition
system and estimate the number of collisions it experiences in traveling from
the source to the substrate in each of the cases below. Assume that in each
case the molecular collisional diameter is 0.4 nm, the source-to-substrate
distance is 5 cm, and that the number of collisions is approximately equal to the
source-to-substrate distance divided by the mean free path.
a. An evaporation system in which the pressure is 10-5 torr and the
temperature is 25°C.
b. A sputter deposition system in which the pressure is 3 mtorr and the
temperature is 25°C.
c. An LPCVD system in which the pressure is 1 torr and the temperature is
600°C.
d. An APCVD system in which the pressure is 1 atm and the temperature is
600°C.
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28-09-2018
Solution
• k = 1.36 X 10-22 cm3 atm K-1
• T is the temperature in K
• d is the collision diameter of the molecule in cm
(approximately 4x10-8 cm for most molecules of interest)
• P is the pressure in atm
• # collisions is approximately equal to the source-to-substrate
distance divided by the mean free path in each case
Sec VII, L 18-21: TFD

• Sat, 15 Sept; Tue, 18 Sept; Thu, 20 Sept; Sat, 22 Sept
o Understand different techniques to deposit thin films
• Topics covered –
o Chemical vapor deposition
o Physical vapor deposition
30
28-09-2018
Sec VIII, L 22-26: Diffusion

• 27 (Thu), 29 (Sat) Sept; 4 (Thu), 6 (Sat) Oct 2018
o To explore the basic process of dopant diffusion
o Methods to accurately predict dopant profiles.
• Topics to be covered –
o Diffusion time dependent process
o Diffusion independent process
31

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28-09-2018

Sec VI, L 16-17: Etching

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 2 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Sec VII, L 18-21: TFD

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 3 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Why Thin Films?

• Need to discuss several issues about thin film

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 4 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 5 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

• In each case the constituents of the film are delivered through

• CVD  reactant gases are introduced in the chamber and

• PVD  constituent of atoms are passed through a low pressure

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 6 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

• Low pressure also used in CVD but not at nearly as low

• CVD  used mainly for silicon and dielectric deposition

• PVD  used for metal deposition, mostly due to its ability to

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 7 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

• Uniform film thickness on both

• Good coverage at the bottom of a

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 8 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD)

• Wafers are heated by

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 10 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Atmospheric Pressure CVD (APCVD)

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 11 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Atmospheric Pressure CVD (APCVD)

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 12 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Atmospheric Pressure CVD (APCVD)

ks  chemical surface reaction rate (cm/sec)

• If ks << hG Surface reaction controlled case

• If ks >> hG Mass-transfer / gas-phase diffusion controlled

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 13 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Atmospheric Pressure CVD (APCVD)

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 14 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Silicon Deposited by CVD

Experimental data for Si deposition (4 difference sources)

Silicon Deposited by CVD

• δS increases with distance in direction of gas flow

• If deposition occurs at surface reaction limit region, then

• However, the deposition rate is poor at surface reaction limit

• One can improve the deposition rate by reducing the

• Low-Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 17 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Low pressure hot wall CVD system

ks  surface reaction coefficient

• δS increases if Ptotal decrease ⇒ But not in proportion;

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 19 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

• Deposition velocity not limited by mass transfer of reactants

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 20 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Plasma Enhanced CVD (PECVD)

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 22 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

High Density Plasma CVD (HDPCVD)

• Similar to PECVD, but utilizes a very high density plasma

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 23 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 24 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

• System will be in the surface reaction controlled regime.

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 26 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

• For low pressure case, only hG changes (increased by 100 times).

• For the 1 atm total pressure case, the transition

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 27 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD)

MEL G611 : IC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY 29 BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus