Etching rate

A fonn of anisotropic etching that is of some importance is that of orientation-dependent etching, where one particular crystal face is etched at a faster rate than another crystal face. A connnonly used orientation-dependent wet etch for silicon surfaces is a mixture of KOH in water and isopropanol. At approximately 350 K, this etchant has an etch rate of 0.6 pm min for the Si(lOO) plane, 0.1 pm min for the Si(l 10) plane and 0.006 pm miiG for the Si(l 11) plane [24]. These different etch rates can be exploited to yield anisotropically etched surfaces. 

Dry etching is a commonly used teclmique for creating highly anisotropic, patterned surfaces. The interaction of gas phase etchants with surfaces is of fundamental interest to understanding such phenomena as undercutting and the dependence of etch rate on surface structure. Many surface science studies aim to understand these interactions at an atomic level, and the next section will explore what is known about the etching of silicon surfaces. 

Alkaline solutions consisting of approximately 160 g/L NaAlnO and 60 g/L NaOH at 75°C and contact times in the range of 15 minutes, exhibit high etch rates for printed circuit boards (252,253). The resulting manganese residues can readily be removed by acid neutrali2ation. Addition of K", Rb", and Cs" as co-ions to an alkaline NaAlnO solution maintains etch rates of resin substrates comparable to solutions of higher NaAlnO concentrations (254). 

Etch Profiles. The final profile of a wet etch can be strongly influenced by the crystalline orientation of the semiconductor sample. Many wet etches have different etch rates for various exposed crystal planes. In contrast, several etches are available for specific materials which show Httle dependence on the crystal plane, resulting in a nearly perfect isotropic profile. The different profiles that can be achieved in GaAs etching, as well as InP-based materials, have been discussed (130—132). Similar behavior can be expected for other crystalline semiconductors. It can be important to control the etch profile if a subsequent metallisation step has to pass over the etched step. For reflable metal step coverage it is desirable to have a sloped etched step or at worst a vertical profile. If the profile is re-entrant (concave) then it is possible to have a break in the metal film, causing an open defect. 

Doping of the siHcon can have a large effect on the etch rate, and layers of different materials such as Si02 and Si N can have different etch rates. Eor pressure sensors, thin diaphragms of Si or related materials are etched into the wafer (see Pressure measurements). 

Fig. 12. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) sputter-depth profile of CAA-treated titanium after various exposure.s in vacuum (a) as anodized, (b) 450°C for 1 h, and (c) 7(X)°C for 1 h. The sputter etch rate is 1.5 nm/min. The line indicates the original interface. The arrow denotes oxygen diffused into the substrate. Adapted from Ref. [51].

The adherend metallurgy also indirectly determines the degree of smut buildup because the rate of smut formation is proportional to the etch rate [54J. For instance, the etch rate of A606 is four times greater than that of A514, due to differences in grain size, etc. As a result, a different etch treatment is required for each. In general, the roles of alloy and heat-treatment differences have not... 

The etch rates were measured by a surface profiler and field emission scatming electron microscopy (FESEM), and the etch profile were observed by FESEM. In this study, a C /Ar gas chemistry was chosen to obtain high etch selectivity of Si film to niobium oxide mask since CI2 gas was known to be a good etch gas for Si films. The etch rate, etch selectivity and etch profile of niobium oxide nanopillars and Si films were explored by varying the CI2 concentration, coil RF power and dc bias voltage to substrate. 

The formation of Si nanodot arrays on a substrate was performed by ICPRIE of Si films using self-assembled niobium oxide pillars as an etching mask. The etch rates of niobium oxide pillars and Si films, and the etch selectivity of Si films to niobium oxide were investigated by varying etch parameters in a Ch/Ar gas. The main etch parameters used in this study were the concentration of CI2 gas, coil rf power, and dc-bias to substrate. 

Figure 1(a) shows the etch rates of niobium oxide pillar and Si film, and the etch selectivity of Si to niobium oxide as a function of CI2 concentration. The etch condition was fixed at coil rf power of 500 W, dc-bias to substrate to 300 V and gas pressure of 5 mTorr. As the CI2 concentration increased, the etch rate of niobium oxide pillar gradually decreased while Si etch rate increased. It indicates that the etch mechanism of niobium oxide in Cl2/Ar gas is mainly physical sputtering. As a result, the etch selectivity of Si film to niobium oxide monotonously increased. The effect of coil rf power on the etch rate and etch selectivity was examined as shown in Fig. 1(b). As the coil rf power increased, the etch rates of niobium oxide and Si increased but the etch rate of niobium oxide showed greater increase than that of Si. It is attributed to the increase of ion density with increasing coil rf power. Figure 1 (c)... 

Fig. 1. Etch rates of niobium oxide pillar and Si film, and etch selectivity of Si to niobium oxide piUar for the variation of (a) CI2 concentration, (b) coil rf power, and (c) dc-bias voltage to susceptor...

It was reported that high selectivity can be achieved with addition of small amount of O2, which increases the etch rate of metal electrode [4] while suppresses the etch rate of dielectrics [5]. Figure 2 shows the comparison of residues formation after etching between in (a) CI2 and (b) CI2/O2. Agglomerated residues were observed after etching in CI2/O2, indicating that addition of O2 (1%) enhances residues formation on the etched surface. 

A Dektak siuface profilometer was used to measure the etch rates. The profiles of the etched films were observed by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). In addition, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy PCPS) was utilized to examine the existence of possible etch products or redeposited materials, and to elucidate the etch mechanism of Co2MnSi magnetic films in a CVOa/Ar plasma. 

Fig. 1. Etch rates of Co2MnSi and photoresist as a function of CI2 concentration in Cb/Ar...

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