Effect of Low-Frequency Power on Etching Characteristics of 6H-SiC in C<sub> 4</sub> F <sub>8</sub> /Ar Dual-Frequency Capacitively Coupled Plasma

XU Yijun (徐轶君); WU Xuemei (吴雪梅); YE Chao (叶超)

doi:10.1088/1009-0630/15/10/19

Plasma Science and Technology > 2013 > 15(10): 1066-1070. > DOI: 10.1088/1009-0630/15/10/19

XU Yijun (徐轶君), WU Xuemei (吴雪梅), YE Chao (叶超). Effect of Low-Frequency Power on Etching Characteristics of 6H-SiC in C₄ F ₈ /Ar Dual-Frequency Capacitively Coupled Plasma[J]. Plasma Science and Technology, 2013, 15(10): 1066-1070. DOI: 10.1088/1009-0630/15/10/19

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Effect of Low-Frequency Power on Etching Characteristics of 6H-SiC in C₄ F ₈ /Ar Dual-Frequency Capacitively Coupled Plasma

1 Department of Physics, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China 2 The Key Laboratory of Thin Films of Jiangsu, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China 3 State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China

Funds: supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.10975105, 11275136, 10975106, 11175126, 11204266 and 11075114), the National Magnetic Confinement Fusion Science Program of China (Nos.2010GB106000, 2010GB106009), the Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Information and Qing Lan Project, a Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions and the Program for graduates Research & Innovation in University of Jiangsu Province, China (No.CX10B-031Z)

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Received Date: November 29, 2011

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Abstract

Abstract

Dry etching of 6H silicon carbide (6H-SiC) wafers in a C₄ F₈ /Ar dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasma (DF-CCP) was investigated. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to measure the SiC surface structure and compositions, respectively. Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) was used to measure the relative concentration of F radicals in the plasma. It was found that the roughness of the etched SiC surface and the etching rate are directly related to the power of low-frequency (LF) source. At lower LF power, a smaller surface roughness and a lower etching rate are obtained due to weak bombardment of low energy ions on the SiC wafers. At higher LF power the etching rate can be efficiently increased, but the surface roughness increases too. Compared with other plasma dry etching methods, the DF-CCP can effectively inhibit C x F y films’ deposition, and reduce surface residues.
- SiC,
- plasma etching,
- dual-frequency capacitively coupled plasma,
- X-ray pho toelectron spectroscopy,
- optical emission spectroscopy

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