This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-190691, filed on Jun. 29, 2005; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a dry etching method, and more particularly to a method of dry etching a workpiece such as a semiconductor substrate using a plasma source, for example.
2. Background Art
The dry etching technique is widely used in manufacturing semiconductor devices. This technique is also important in the fields of MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) and micromachining based on semiconductor substrates. In these fields, a technique is needed for forming a deep hole or groove (hereinafter referred to as “trench”) vertical to the surface of a silicon (hereinafter denoted as Si) substrate. For example, it may be necessary to form in a Si substrate a vertical trench with a width of several micrometers and a depth of several tens of micrometers, or a vertical through-hole in the depth direction with a width of 100 μm or more.
In a previously disclosed dry etching method for forming a trench (see, e.g., JP 2004-327606A, pp. 3-4, FIG. 1), an apparatus having a plasma generating source is used to vertically etch a semiconductor substrate by alternately switching between an etching gas SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride) and a depositive gas C4F8 (cyclobutane octafluoride), that is, by alternately repeating the step of forming a trench by etching (etching step) and the step of forming a sidewall protection film for the etched trench (deposition step). On the sidewall of the trench formed below a resist mask, a discontinuous surface feature, that is, an undulation of irregularities is observed, which corresponds to the repetition of the etching step and the deposition step.
This disclosed proposal does not show a method of increasing the etching rate. It is contemplated that in order to increase the etching rate, for example, the etching gas flow rate can be increased to raise the F (fluorine) radical supply rate and the reaction product removal rate.
However, in the case where the etching gas flow rate is increased, the pressure regulation valve cannot follow the gas switching due to a large difference of gas flow rate relative to the alternately switched depositive gas. This results in a pressure variation and makes the plasma unstable. For the purpose of avoiding the plasma instability, if the C4F8 gas flow rate during the deposition step is increased in an attempt to reduce the pressure variation at the time of switching between the etching step and the deposition step, there arises a problem that it is difficult to suitably control the processed feature of the trench sidewall.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a dry etching method comprising a plurality of iterations of: exposing a surface of a workpiece to a decomposed product of a depositive gas, the depositive gas having a CF group; and exposing the surface of the workpiece to a decomposed product of an etching gas.
According to other aspect of the invention, there is provided a dry etching method comprising: exposing an etching region of a workpiece to a plasma product of a depositive gas, the depositive gas having a CF group in a reaction chamber; exposing the etching region to a plasma product of an etching gas in the reaction chamber; exposing the etching region to a plasma product of the depositive gas in the reaction chamber; and exposing the etching region to a plasma product of the etching gas in the reaction chamber.
According to other aspect of the invention, there is provided a dry etching method comprising: exposing an etching region of a workpiece to a plasma product of a depositive gas, the depositive gas containing a fluorocarbon-based gas and at least one of CO (carbon monoxide) gas, hydrogen gas, and CH4 gas in a reaction chamber; exposing the etching region to a plasma product of an etching gas in the reaction chamber; exposing the etching region to a plasma product of the depositive gas in the reaction chamber; and exposing the etching region to a plasma product of the etching gas in the reaction chamber.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. In the figures referred to below, like elements are marked with like reference numerals. The embodiments of the invention will now be described in more detail with reference to examples.
A dry etching method according to a first example of the invention is described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.
As shown in
The dry etching apparatus 1 has a gas inlet 21 on top of the plasma generating chamber 11. The supply sources of an etching gas (gas having an etching property) 24 and a depositive gas 26 are connected to the gas inlet 21 via, for example, flow rate controllers 23 and 25 including mass flow controllers (MFC), respectively. A turbo molecular pump 32 is connected to the reaction chamber 15 via a pressure regulating valve 31. A dry pump 33 is connected to the exhaust side of the turbo molecular pump 32. The exhaust side of the dry pump 33 is in turn connected to an emission treatment system 34, the exhaust side of which is connected to an exhaust duct (not shown). The valve 31, turbo molecular pump 32, dry pump 33, emission treatment system 34, and exhaust duct constitute an exhaust system.
The flow of gases in the dry etching apparatus 1 is described. The flow rate of SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride), which is the etching gas 24, and C5F8 (perfluorocyclopentene), which is the depositive gas 26 having a CF group, stored in respective cylinders, is controlled by the flow rate controllers 23 and 25, and these gases are fed into the plasma generating chamber 11. A high-density plasma generated from SF6 or C5F8 in the plasma generating chamber 11 produces plasma products such as radicals and decomposition products, which are moved toward the workpiece 17 under the action of the lower electrode 16 or the exhaust system for processing the workpiece 17 in the reaction chamber 15. The plasma products then come into contact and react with the workpiece 17. The reacted gas or unreacted gas in the reaction chamber 15 is exhausted by the turbo molecular pump 32 to the dry pump 33 side. Note that Ar (argon) gas (not shown), for example, may be simultaneously fed into the plasma generating chamber 11 for plasma generation.
Note that the term “CF group” as used in this specification means CF1, and thus, it does not include such as CF2 and CF3.
The dry etching apparatus 1 having the above configuration was used to investigate conditions for the dry etching method. In order to form a desired trench feature in a Si substrate serving as the workpiece 17, a resist mask 53 having an opening 55 in an etching region of the surface of the Si substrate 51 was formed as shown in
In the reaction chamber of the dry etching apparatus 1, the Si substrate 51 was mounted at the position of the workpiece 17 shown in
In the second and fourth steps of etching (the etching steps), the radio-frequency power supplied to the antenna 12 is 2500 W, the SF6 gas flow rate is 1 slm (1000 sccm), the pressure in the reaction chamber 15 is 90 mTorr (12 Pa), and the supply power to the lower electrode is 50 W. Thus, an surface of the Si substrate 51 is exposed to a decomposed product a etching gas. The SF6 gas flow rate was set after the etching rate (not shown) was confirmed up to 1.2 slm.
Under this condition, a plurality of cycles are repeated to etch the Si substrate 51 depending on the desired trench depth and the like, where one cycle is defined as a combination of the deposition step (e.g., about 1 to 2 seconds) and the etching step (e.g., about 2 to 5 seconds). Thus, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
These results can be explained as follows by comparison with C4F8, which has a molecular structure shown in
On the other hand, C5F8 in this example dissociates in a different manner due to its different molecular structure, which presumably results in a different trench feature. More specifically, as shown in
As described above, according to this example, cyclic C5F8 having a CF group can be used as a depositive gas to reduce the amount of undercut relative to conventional techniques even when the C5F8 gas flow rate is increased to about 1 slm. However, the well-known etching gas SF6 tends to increase the etching rate with the increase of its flow rate.
In addition, according to the dry etching method of this example, a deep trench vertical to the surface of the Si substrate can be formed while preventing the trench from expanding in the sidewall direction because the amount of undercut can be reduced. Therefore the present method can be applied more widely in the fields of semiconductor devices as well as MEMS and micromachining based on Si substrates.
A dry etching method according to a second example of the invention is described with reference to
The dry etching apparatus used in this example has the same configuration as that of the first example except that the depositive gas 26 shown in
As shown in
This can be explained by the molecular structure of C4F6 used in this example.
As shown in
As described above, according to this example, cyclic C4F6 having a CF group can be used as a depositive gas to achieve the same effect as the first example. In addition, the amount of undercut can be further reduced.
A dry etching method according to a third example of the invention is described with reference to
As shown in
The elements of the dry etching apparatus 2 such as the radio-frequency power, the pressure in the reaction chamber 15, and the Si substrate 51 for examining the amount of undercut are the same as those of the first example. In the first and third steps of forming a protection film (the deposition steps) using the dry etching apparatus 2, the gas flow rate of C4F8, which is a cyclic fluorocarbon-based gas, is 800 sccm, and CO gas is added. The second and fourth steps of etching (the etching steps) are the same as in the first example. The Si substrate 51 is etched to form a trench 57 therein as in
The C4F8 gas flow rate is fixed to 800 sccm (see
This result can be explained as follows in comparison with the case of using only C4F8 as in conventional techniques. Because of the dissociation to CF2 groups, the flow of C4F8 at a flow rate of 800 sccm relatively decreases the ratio of CF groups suitable for forming a protection film on the sidewall. However, the addition of CO gas allows C atoms suitable for forming a protection film to be dissociated from CO in the plasma, and thereby increasing the C/F ratio on the Si substrate surface. This presumably facilitates the formation of a protection film on the sidewall of the trench 57 and decreases the amount of undercut.
As described above, according to this example, cyclic C4F8 having no CF group in its molecular structure can be used simultaneously with CO gas to reduce the amount of undercut relative to conventional techniques even when the C4F8 gas flow rate is increased to about 800 sccm. However, the etching gas tends to increase the etching rate with the increase of its flow rate. Hence, the etching rate can be increased, and the amount of undercut can be reduced, by alternately switching the deposition step and the etching step while maintaining the gas flow rate difference enough to prevent the plasma from being unstable at the time of switching between the etching gas and the depositive gas containing additional CO gas. That is, use of C4F8 with additional CO gas allows for providing a method of increasing the etching rate while preventing the deterioration of the etched feature.
Note that the same effect can also be achieved by adding hydrogen (H2), for example, instead of CO gas. More specifically, as described above, the decomposition of C4F8 produces CF2. If hydrogen is added to this reaction, fluorine (F) in CF2 reacts with hydrogen to produce CF suitable for forming a protection film on the sidewall. As a result, the effect of protecting the trench sidewall is enhanced, and the amount of undercut can be reduced even when the etching rate is increased.
The same effect can also be achieved by adding CH4 instead of CO gas. More specifically, the decomposition of CH4 in a plasma produces C and H. The generated C atoms contribute to forming a protection film on the sidewall. The generated hydrogen reacts with CF2 generated by the decomposition of C4F8 to produce CF suitable for forming a protection film on the sidewall. As a result, the effect of protecting the trench sidewall is enhanced, and the amount of undercut can be reduced even when the etching rate is increased.
The dry etching method of this example can use C4F8 gas, which has conventionally been mass-produced. Thus the cost of trench formation can be reduced. Therefore the present method can be applied more widely in the fields of semiconductor devices as well as MEMS and micromachining based on Si substrates.
The invention is not limited to the examples described above, but can be variously modified without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
For example, while C5F8 and C4F6 are used as depositive gases in the first and second examples, other fluorocarbon-based compounds having a CF group in the molecular structure can also achieve a similar effect, and can be alternatively used as a depositive gas.
While C4F8 and CO are illustratively used as a primary gas and an additional gas of the depositive gas in the third example, other fluorocarbon-based compounds having a CF2 group, or C5F8, C4F6, or the like having a CF group can be used as a primary gas of the depositive gas in combination with CO used as an additional gas.
In the above examples, where a trench is formed in the Si substrate serving as a workpiece, the surface of the Si substrate may be provided with a polysilicon film, silicide film, dielectric film, SiGe, or the like. The workpiece may also be a compound semiconductor substrate.
In the above examples, an apparatus having an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source is illustratively used as a dry etching apparatus. However, the plasma source may be other plasma sources capable of generating a high-density plasma, such as an electron cyclotron resonance plasma, helicon wave excited plasma, and microwave excited surface wave plasma.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005-190691 | Jun 2005 | JP | national |