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Plasma Dry Etching: Advanced Processes, Plasma Induced Damage and Plasma...
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Plasma Dry Etching: Advanced Processes, Plasma Induced Damage and Plasma Diagnostics

A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 6757

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Shih-Nan Hsiao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Low-Temperature Plasma Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
Interests: plasma etching (high-aspect ratio contact etching, atomic-layer etching and low-temperature etching); plasma diagnositics and simulation; magnetic materials (permanet hard magnetic thin films, recording media and exchange bias); X-ray based techniques (synchotron radiation, X-ray diffraction, X-ray reflectivity, X-ray absorption and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy); thin-film stress; surface finishing for anticorrosion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Dry plasma etching is one of the key processes in advanced manufacturing and faces severe challenges that include atomic scale control, high aspect ratio structure, plasma-induced damage, and limitation of real-time monitoring. Spurred primarily by growing current applications, including advanced logic devices, flash memory and magnetoresistive random access memory, nano-electromechanical systems, energy devices, new processes, instruments, diagnostic techniques, and etching mechanisms to acquire a better understanding are required. Accordingly, we are launching this new Special Issue of Coatings, which will focus on the fundamentals and applications of dry plasma etching in addressing these covered subjects.

This Special Issue will collect original research articles and review papers in the following concepts:

  • Theoretical, modeling, and experimental research, knowledge, and new ideas in mechanisms of dry plasma etching;
  • Recent developments in etching processes for different materials, including Si-based materials, dielectric materials, polymers, metallic films, and carbon-based materials;
  • Advanced atomic layer etching and high aspect ratio contact etching with high speed;
  • Etching characteristics at different environments: high temperature and cryogenic etching;
  • The latest development of etching instruments considering but not limit to high-density plasma process reactors, surface temperature control and monitoring, and power and time modulations;
  • Monitoring and understanding mechanisms of plasma-induced damage and new reduction processes;
  • Computer modeling, simulation for etching characteristics and chemistrics;
  • Plasma diagnostics for etching processes.

Dr. Shih-Nan Hsiao
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • advanced process for plasma etching
  • atomic layer etching and high aspect ratio contact etching
  • plasma-induced damage
  • plasma diagnostics
  • etching modeling

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

8 pages, 2099 KiB  
Article
Plasma Etching of SiO2 Contact Holes Using Hexafluoroisopropanol and C4F8
by Sanghyun You, Yu Jong Lee, Heeyeop Chae and Chang-Koo Kim
Coatings 2022, 12(5), 679; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings12050679 - 16 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2736
Abstract
This study presents the feasibility of the use of hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) as a substitute to perfluorocarbon (PFC) for the plasma etching of SiO2 to confront the continuous increase in demand for PFC emission reduction. SiO2 etching is conducted in HFIP/Ar and [...] Read more.
This study presents the feasibility of the use of hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) as a substitute to perfluorocarbon (PFC) for the plasma etching of SiO2 to confront the continuous increase in demand for PFC emission reduction. SiO2 etching is conducted in HFIP/Ar and C4F8/Ar plasmas, respectively, and its characteristics are compared. The SiO2 etch rates in the HFIP/Ar plasma are higher compared with those in the C4F8/Ar plasma. The thickness of the steady-state fluorocarbon films formed on the surface of SiO2 are lower in the HFIP/Ar plasma compared with in the C4F8/Ar plasma. Higher SiO2 etch rates and thinner fluorocarbon films in the HFIP/Ar plasma are attributed to the oxygen atoms in HFIP, which generate oxygen radicals that react with the fluorocarbon films to turn into volatile products. Due to the higher dissociation of C-F bonds in CF4 compared with in HFIP, the etch rates of SiO2 in the C4F8/Ar plasma increase more rapidly with the magnitude of the bias voltage compared with those in the HFIP/Ar plasma. The etch profiles of the 200 nm diameter SiO2 contact holes with an aspect ratio of 12 show that fairly anisotropic SiO2 contact hole etching was achieved successfully using the HFIP/Ar plasma. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plasma Dry Etching: Advanced Processes, Plasma Induced Damage and Plasma Diagnostics)
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14 pages, 2226 KiB  
Article
On the Etching Mechanism of Highly Hydrogenated SiN Films by CF4/D2 Plasma: Comparison with CF4/H2
by Shih-Nan Hsiao, Thi-Thuy-Nga Nguyen, Takayoshi Tsutsumi, Kenji Ishikawa, Makoto Sekine and Masaru Hori
Coatings 2021, 11(12), 1535; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11121535 - 14 Dec 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5874
Abstract
With the increasing interest in dry etching of silicon nitride, utilization of hydrogen-contained fluorocarbon plasma has become one of the most important processes in manufacturing advanced semiconductor devices. The correlation between hydrogen-contained molecules from the plasmas and hydrogen atoms inside the SiN plays [...] Read more.
With the increasing interest in dry etching of silicon nitride, utilization of hydrogen-contained fluorocarbon plasma has become one of the most important processes in manufacturing advanced semiconductor devices. The correlation between hydrogen-contained molecules from the plasmas and hydrogen atoms inside the SiN plays a crucial role in etching behavior. In this work, the influences of plasmas (CF4/D2 and CF4/H2) and substrate temperature (Ts, from −20 to 50 °C) on etch rates (ERs) of the PECVD SiN films were investigated. The etch rate performed by CF4/D2 plasma was higher than one obtained by CF4/H2 plasma at substrate temperature of 20 °C and higher. The optical emission spectra showed that the intensities of the fluorocarbon (FC), F, and Balmer emissions were stronger in the CF4/D2 plasma in comparison with CF4/H2. From X-ray photoelectron spectra, a thinner FC layer with a lower F/C ratio was found in the surface of the sample etched by the CF4/H2 plasma. The plasma density, gas phase concentration and FC thickness were not responsible for the higher etch rate in the CF4/D2 plasma. The abstraction of H inside the SiN films by deuterium and, in turn, hydrogen dissociation from Si or N molecules, supported by the results of in situ monitoring of surface structure using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, resulted in the enhanced ER in the CF4/D2 plasma case. The findings imply that the hydrogen dissociation plays an important role in the etching of PECVD-prepared SiN films when the hydrogen concentration of SiN is higher. For the films etched with the CF4/H2 at −20 °C, the increase in ER was attributed to a thinner FC layer and surface reactions. On the contrary, in the CF4/D2 case the dependence of ER on substrate temperature was the consequence of the factors which include the FC layer thickness (diffusion length) and the atomic mobility of the etchants (thermal activation reaction). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plasma Dry Etching: Advanced Processes, Plasma Induced Damage and Plasma Diagnostics)
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