Claims
- 1. A method for removing nitride from a semiconductor substrate having nitride on a first side and a second side of the substrate, the method comprising:providing a gas flow to a processing chamber, including a source of fluorine, a source of hydrogen and a source of oxygen; generating a reactive species from the gas for removing the nitride from the substrate; flowing at least a first portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the first side of the substrate and simultaneously flowing at least a second portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the second side of the substrate; and diverting the second portion of the reactive species to bypass the first side and flow to the second side of the substrate for processing.
- 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:maintaining a pressure in the processing chamber between about 0.5 to 2 Torr.
- 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:wherein the source of fluorine includes CF4, the source of oxygen includes O2 and the source of hydrogen includes CH2F2.
- 4. The method of claim 3 wherein the flow of CF4 is between about 15% to 30% of the gas flow, wherein the flow of O2 is between about 20% to 40% of the gas flow.
- 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the gas flow is between about 500 to 1200 SCCM.
- 6. The method of claim 1 wherein an oxide is formed on the semiconductor substrate, the method further comprising:selecting the relative flow of the source of fluorine, the source of hydrogen and the source of oxygen to provide a nitride to oxide selectivity of at least 20:1.
- 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the nitride to oxide selectivity is at least 40:1.
- 8. A method for removing nitride from a semiconductor substrate having nitride on a first side and a second side of the substrate, the method comprising:providing a gas flow to a processing chamber, including a source of fluorine, a source of hydrogen and a source of oxygen; generating a reactive species from the gas for removing the nitride from the substrate; flowing at least a first portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the first side of the substrate and simultaneously flowing at least a second portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the second side of the substrate; and controlling the relative flow of reactive species to the first side and the second side of the semiconductor substrate such that the first side to the second side etch rate ratio is between about 0.90 to 1.05.
- 9. The method of claim 5 further comprising:controlling the relative flow of reactive species to the first side and the second side of the semiconductor substrate such that the first side to the second side etch rate ratio is between about 0.90 to 1.05.
- 10. A method for removing nitride from a semiconductor substrate having nitride on a first side and a second side of the substrate, the method comprising:providing a gas flow to a processing chamber, including a source of fluorine, a source of hydrogen and a source of oxygen; generating a reactive species from the gas for removing the nitride from the substrate; flowing at least a first portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the first side of the substrate and simultaneously flowing at least a second portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the second side of the substrate; and controlling the relative flow of reactive species to the first side and the second side of the semiconductor substrate such that the nitride etch rate on the second side is greater than the nitride etch rate on the first side.
- 11. A method for removing nitride from a semiconductor substrate having nitride on a first side and a second side of the substrate, the method comprising:providing a gas flow to a processing chamber, including a source of fluorine, a source of hydrogen and a source of oxygen; generating a reactive species from the gas for removing the nitride from the substrate; flowing at least a first portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the first side of the substrate and simultaneously flowing at least a second portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the second side of the substrate; and providing a supplemental gas flow to the second side of the semiconductor substrate.
- 12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:providing a power to the gas of between about 500 to 1500 watts.
- 13. A method for removing nitride from a semiconductor substrate having nitride on a first side and a second side of the substrate, the method comprising:providing a gas flow to a processing chamber, including a source of fluorine, a source of hydrogen and a source of oxygen; generating a reactive species from the gas for removing the nitride from the substrate; flowing at least a first portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the first side of the substrate and simultaneously flowing at least a second portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the second side of the substrate; and supporting the semiconductor substrate on pins such that both the first side and the second side are exposed for processing.
- 14. A method for removing nitride from a semiconductor substrate having nitride on a first side and a second side of the substrate, the method comprising:providing a gas flow to a processing chamber, including a source of fluorine, a source of hydrogen and a source of oxygen; generating a reactive species from the gas for removing the nitride from the substrate; flowing at least a first portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the first side of the substrate and simultaneously flowing at least a second portion of the reactive species across the nitride on the second side of the substrate; and cooling the semiconductor substrate to a temperature between about 0 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius.
- 15. The method of claim 7 further comprising cooling the semiconductor substrate to a temperature between about 0 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius.
- 16. The method of claim 9 further comprising cooling the semiconductor substrate to a temperature between about 0 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius.
- 17. The method of claim 14 further comprising:diverting the second portion of the reactive species to bypass the first side and flow to the second side of the substrate for processing such that the first side to the second side etch rate ratio is between about 0.90 to 1.05.
- 18. The method of claim 10 further comprising cooling the semiconductor substrate to a temperature between about 0 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius.
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
The present application is a continuation and claims priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 09/351,259 filed Jul. 12, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,335,293 which claims priority from U.S. provisional application No. 60/092,758 filed Jul. 13, 1998. U.S. application Ser. No. 09/351,259 and provisional application No. 60/092,758 are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
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Continuations (1)
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