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Etching Kinetics and Mechanisms of Thin Films
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Etching Kinetics and Mechanisms of Thin Films

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Manufacturing Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 24984

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Kwang-Ho Kwon

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Korea University at Sejong Campus, Sejong-si 30019, Republic of Korea
Interests: plasma etching technology; plasma etching mechanism and modeling; plasma monitoring; etched surface reaction analysis; plasma surface treatment; plasma applications; semiconductor processing technology; energy harvest
Prof. Dr. Alexander M. Efremov

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department Of Electronic Devices & Materials Technology, Ivanovo State University of Chemistry and Technology, 153000 Ivanovo, Russia
Interests: physics and chemistry of low-pressure gas discharge plasmas; plasma modelling and diagnostics; etching kinetics and mechanisms in multi-component gas mixtures; optimization of plasma etching control
Prof. Dr. Yeon Ho Im

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju-si 54896, Korea
Interests: plasma interface modeling; plasma etching and deposition; simulation of plasma process; solid-state sensor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that submissions are open for this Special Issue of Materials devoted to papers presented at the International Conference on Etching Kinetics and Mechanisms of Thin Films.

The modern trend to increase both device operating speed and density assumes the decrease in critical dimensions of their active elements down to a nanometer scale, and initiates the development of novel vertically stacked device structures using the thin-film structures. The fabrication of such next-generation semiconductor devices requires innovative thin-film patterning techniques which allow one to achieve both highly anisotropic and selective “dry” (plasma-assisted) etching for a wide number of thin films including silicon-based semiconductors, dielectrics, various metals, and their oxides. Obviously, the progress in “dry” etching technology is closely connected with fundamental studies of etching kinetics and mechanisms for the involved materials, which provide an adequate understanding of the impacts of physical and chemical etching pathways on the output process characteristics and thus, on the real device performance.

The main aim of this Special Issue is to extend the knowledge of advanced “dry” etching technology and to match the experimentally based research on etching phenomena with main effects in plasma physics and chemistry. For this purpose, the topics of key interest are: 1) Kinetics and mechanisms of reactive-ion etching processes for silicon-based thin films and various novel materials/etch techniques that are required for next-generation semiconductor device fabrication; and 2) Realistic 3D feature profile simulation for high-aspect-ratio etching techniques.

We invite you to submit high-quality research, technical, or review papers which are focused on emerging etching technologies, kinetics, and mechanisms of both gas-phase and heterogeneous process under reactive-ion etching conditions, contributing to the knowledge of etching techniques, as well as 3D profile simulation to address phenomena that occur during high-aspect-ratio etching.

Some areas of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to: new methods and research on novel etch materials and innovative etch techniques which can achieve highly selective (or highly nonselective)/highly anisotropic (or highly isotropic) etching of various semiconductor materials; environmentally benign etch materials that do not increase the greenhouse effect; realistic 3D etching profiles for next-generation high-aspect-ratio etching processes including real-time in-site monitoring technology to manage tight process margins; basic experimental and theoretical research for nanoscale phenomena such as profile bowing and distortion; novel plasma chemistry to overcome the limitations of conventional plasma chemistry; plasma monitoring technology for plasma etching, etc.

If you need any further information about this Special Issue, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Prof. Dr. Kwang-Ho Kwon
Prof. Dr. Alexander M. Efremov
Prof. Dr. Yeon Ho Im
Guest Editors

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. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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

  • Plasma etching
  • Plasma process modelling & simulation
  • Plasma monitoring and diagnostics
  • Plasma bulk & surface chemistry
  • Etching mechanism
  • Surface process kinetics
  • Novel etch materials
  • Innovative etch techniques

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 5292 KiB  
Article
Silicon Oxide Etching Process of NF3 and F3NO Plasmas with a Residual Gas Analyzer
by Woo-Jae Kim, In-Young Bang, Ji-Hwan Kim, Yeon-Soo Park, Hee-Tae Kwon, Gi-Won Shin, Min-Ho Kang, Youngjun Cho, Byung-Hyang Kwon, Jung-Hun Kwak and Gi-Chung Kwon
Materials 2021, 14(11), 3026; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14113026 - 02 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2964
Abstract
The use of NF3 is significantly increasing every year. However, NF3 is a greenhouse gas with a very high global warming potential. Therefore, the development of a material to replace NF3 is required. F3NO is considered a potential [...] Read more.
The use of NF3 is significantly increasing every year. However, NF3 is a greenhouse gas with a very high global warming potential. Therefore, the development of a material to replace NF3 is required. F3NO is considered a potential replacement to NF3. In this study, the characteristics and cleaning performance of the F3NO plasma to replace the greenhouse gas NF3 were examined. Etching of SiO2 thin films was performed, the DC offset of the plasma of both gases (i.e., NF3 and F3NO) was analyzed, and a residual gas analysis was performed. Based on the analysis results, the characteristics of the F3NO plasma were studied, and the SiO2 etch rates of the NF3 and F3NO plasmas were compared. The results show that the etch rates of the two gases have a difference of 95% on average, and therefore, the cleaning performance of the F3NO plasma was demonstrated, and the potential benefit of replacing NF3 with F3NO was confirmed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Etching Kinetics and Mechanisms of Thin Films)
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18 pages, 4590 KiB  
Article
Development of Virtual Metrology Using Plasma Information Variables to Predict Si Etch Profile Processed by SF6/O2/Ar Capacitively Coupled Plasma
by Ji-Won Kwon, Sangwon Ryu, Jihoon Park, Haneul Lee, Yunchang Jang, Seolhye Park and Gon-Ho Kim
Materials 2021, 14(11), 3005; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14113005 - 01 Jun 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3858
Abstract
In the semiconductor etch process, as the critical dimension (CD) decreases and the difficulty of the process control increases, in-situ and real-time etch profile monitoring becomes important. It leads to the development of virtual metrology (VM) technology, one of the measurement and inspection [...] Read more.
In the semiconductor etch process, as the critical dimension (CD) decreases and the difficulty of the process control increases, in-situ and real-time etch profile monitoring becomes important. It leads to the development of virtual metrology (VM) technology, one of the measurement and inspection (MI) technology that predicts the etch profile during the process. Recently, VM to predict the etch depth using plasma information (PI) variables and the etch process data based on the statistical regression method had been developed and demonstrated high performance. In this study, VM using PI variables, named PI-VM, was extended to monitor the etch profile and investigated the role of PI variables and features of PI-VM. PI variables are obtained through analysis on optical emission spectrum data. The features in PI-VM are investigated in terms of plasma physics and etch kinetics. The PI-VM is developed to monitor the etch depth, bowing CD, etch depth times bowing CD (rectangular model), and etch area model (non-rectangular model). PI-VM for etch depth and bowing CD showed high prediction accuracy of R-square value (R2) 0.8 or higher. The rectangular and non-rectangular etch area model PI-VM showed prediction accuracy R2 of 0.78 and 0.49, respectively. The first trial of virtual metrology to monitor the etch profile will contribute to the development of the etch profile control technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Etching Kinetics and Mechanisms of Thin Films)
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9 pages, 1670 KiB  
Article
Ion-Enhanced Etching Characteristics of sp2-Rich Hydrogenated Amorphous Carbons in CF4 Plasmas and O2 Plasmas
by Jie Li, Yongjae Kim, Seunghun Han and Heeyeop Chae
Materials 2021, 14(11), 2941; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14112941 - 29 May 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2909
Abstract
The sp2-rich hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) is widely adopted as hard masks in semiconductor-device fabrication processes. The ion-enhanced etch characteristics of sp2-rich a-C:H films on ion density and ion energy were investigated in CF4 plasmas and O2 [...] Read more.
The sp2-rich hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) is widely adopted as hard masks in semiconductor-device fabrication processes. The ion-enhanced etch characteristics of sp2-rich a-C:H films on ion density and ion energy were investigated in CF4 plasmas and O2 plasmas in this work. The etch rate of sp2-rich a-C:H films in O2 plasmas increased linearly with ion density when no bias power was applied, while the fluorocarbon deposition was observed in CF4 plasmas instead of etching without bias power. The etch rate was found to be dependent on the half-order curve of ion energy in both CF4 plasmas and O2 plasmas when bias power was applied. An ion-enhanced etching model was suggested to fit the etch rates of a-C:H in CF4 plasmas and O2 plasmas. Then, the etch yield and the threshold energy for etching were determined based on this model from experimental etch rates in CF4 plasma and O2 plasma. The etch yield of 3.45 was observed in CF4 plasmas, while 12.3 was obtained in O2 plasmas, owing to the high reactivity of O radicals with carbon atoms. The threshold energy of 12 eV for a-C:H etching was obtained in O2 plasmas, while the high threshold energy of 156 eV was observed in CF4 plasmas. This high threshold energy is attributed to the formation of a fluorocarbon layer that protects the a-C:H films from ion-enhanced etching. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Etching Kinetics and Mechanisms of Thin Films)
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11 pages, 6671 KiB  
Article
One-Step Etching Characteristics of ITO/Ag/ITO Multilayered Electrode in High-Density and High-Electron-Temperature Plasma
by Ho-Won Yoon, Seung-Min Shin, Seong-Yong Kwon, Hyun-Min Cho, Sang-Gab Kim and Mun-Pyo Hong
Materials 2021, 14(8), 2025; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14082025 - 17 Apr 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3908
Abstract
This paper presents the dry etching characteristics of indium tin oxide (ITO)/Ag/ITO multilayered thin film, used as a pixel electrode in a high-resolution active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) device. Dry etching was performed using a combination of H2 and HCl gases in [...] Read more.
This paper presents the dry etching characteristics of indium tin oxide (ITO)/Ag/ITO multilayered thin film, used as a pixel electrode in a high-resolution active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) device. Dry etching was performed using a combination of H2 and HCl gases in a reactive ion etching system with a remote electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma source, in order to achieve high electron temperature. The effect of the gas ratio (H2/HCl) was closely observed, in order to achieve an optimal etch profile and an effective etch process, while other parameters—such as the radio frequency (RF) power, ECR power, chamber pressure, and temperature—were fixed. The optimized process, with an appropriate gas ratio, constitutes a one-step serial dry etch solution for ITO and Ag multilayered thin films. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Etching Kinetics and Mechanisms of Thin Films)
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16 pages, 1884 KiB  
Article
Dry Etching Performance and Gas-Phase Parameters of C6F12O + Ar Plasma in Comparison with CF4 + Ar
by Nomin Lim, Yeon Sik Choi, Alexander Efremov and Kwang-Ho Kwon
Materials 2021, 14(7), 1595; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14071595 - 24 Mar 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4767
Abstract
This research work deals with the comparative study of C6F12O + Ar and CF4 + Ar gas chemistries in respect to Si and SiO2 reactive-ion etching processes in a low power regime. Despite uncertain applicability of C [...] Read more.
This research work deals with the comparative study of C6F12O + Ar and CF4 + Ar gas chemistries in respect to Si and SiO2 reactive-ion etching processes in a low power regime. Despite uncertain applicability of C6F12O as the fluorine-containing etchant gas, it is interesting because of the liquid (at room temperature) nature and weaker environmental impact (lower global warming potential). The combination of several experimental techniques (double Langmuir probe, optical emission spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) allowed one (a) to compare performances of given gas systems in respect to the reactive-ion etching of Si and SiO2; and (b) to associate the features of corresponding etching kinetics with those for gas-phase plasma parameters. It was found that both gas systems exhibit (a) similar changes in ion energy flux and F atom flux with variations on input RF power and gas pressure; (b) quite close polymerization abilities; and (c) identical behaviors of Si and SiO2 etching rates, as determined by the neutral-flux-limited regime of ion-assisted chemical reaction. Principal features of C6F12O + Ar plasma are only lower absolute etching rates (mainly due to the lower density and flux of F atoms) as well as some limitations in SiO2/Si etching selectivity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Etching Kinetics and Mechanisms of Thin Films)
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15 pages, 1926 KiB  
Article
Plasma Parameters and Etching Characteristics of SiOxNy Films in CF4 + O2 + X (X = C4F8 or CF2Br2) Gas Mixtures
by Yunho Nam, Alexander Efremov, Byung Jun Lee and Kwang-Ho Kwon
Materials 2020, 13(23), 5476; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13235476 - 01 Dec 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2480
Abstract
In this work, we carried out the study of CF4 + O2 + X (X = C4F8 or CF2Br2) gas chemistries in respect to the SiOxNy reactive-ion etching process in a [...] Read more.
In this work, we carried out the study of CF4 + O2 + X (X = C4F8 or CF2Br2) gas chemistries in respect to the SiOxNy reactive-ion etching process in a low power regime. The interest in the liquid CF2Br2 as an additive component is motivated by its generally unknown plasma etching performance. The combination of various diagnostic tools (double Langmuir probe, quadrupole mass-spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) allowed us to compare the effects of CF4/X mixing ratio, input power and gas pressure on gas-phase plasma characteristics as well as to analyze the SiOxNy etching kinetics in terms of process-condition-dependent effective reaction probability. It was found that the given gas systems are characterized by: (1) similar changes in plasma parameters (electron temperature, ion current density) and fluxes of active species with variations in processing conditions; (2) identical behaviors of SiOxNy etching rates, as determined by the neutral-flux-limited process regime; and (3) non-constant SiOxNy + F reaction probabilities due to changes in the polymer deposition/removal balance. The features of CF4 + CF2Br2 + O2 plasma are lower polymerization ability (due to the lower flux of CFx radicals) and a bit more vertical etching profile (due to the lower neutral/charged ratio). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Etching Kinetics and Mechanisms of Thin Films)
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Review

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26 pages, 4167 KiB  
Review
On Relationships between Gas-Phase Chemistry and Reactive Ion Etching Kinetics for Silicon-Based Thin Films (SiC, SiO2 and SixNy) in Multi-Component Fluorocarbon Gas Mixtures
by Alexander Efremov, Byung Jun Lee and Kwang-Ho Kwon
Materials 2021, 14(6), 1432; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14061432 - 15 Mar 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3005
Abstract
This work summarizes the results of our previous studies related to investigations of reactive ion etching kinetics and mechanisms for widely used silicon-based materials (SiC, SiO2, and SixNy) as well as for the silicon itself in multi-component [...] Read more.
This work summarizes the results of our previous studies related to investigations of reactive ion etching kinetics and mechanisms for widely used silicon-based materials (SiC, SiO2, and SixNy) as well as for the silicon itself in multi-component fluorocarbon gas mixtures. The main subjects were the three-component systems composed either by one fluorocarbon component (CF4, C4F8, CHF3) with Ar and O2 or by two fluorocarbon components with one additive gas. The investigation scheme included plasma diagnostics by Langmuir probes and model-based analysis of plasma chemistry and heterogeneous reaction kinetics. The combination of these methods allowed one (a) to figure out key processes which determine the steady-state plasma parameters and densities of active species; (b) to understand relationships between processing conditions and basic heterogeneous process kinetics; (c) to analyze etching mechanisms in terms of process-condition-dependent effective reaction probability and etching yield; and (d) to suggest the set gas-phase-related parameters (fluxes and flux-to-flux ratios) to control the thickness of the fluorocarbon polymer film and the change in the etching/polymerization balance. It was shown that non-monotonic etching rates as functions of gas mixing ratios may result from monotonic but opposite changes in F atoms flux and effective reaction probability. The latter depends either on the fluorocarbon film thickness (in high-polymerizing and oxygen-less gas systems) or on heterogeneous processes with a participation of O atoms (in oxygen-containing plasmas). It was suggested that an increase in O2 fraction in a feed gas may suppress the effective reaction probability through decreasing amounts of free adsorption sites and oxidation of surface atoms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Etching Kinetics and Mechanisms of Thin Films)
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