Patent Application
20070224829
Dielectric materials are principally used for forming electrically insulating layers within, for example, an electronic device or integrated circuits (IC). Selective anisotropic etching of dielectric materials is the process step extensively used to produce features in the manufacturing of integrated circuits (IC), microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), optoelectronic devices, and micro-optoelectronic-mechanical systems (MOEMS).
Device features on a wafer are typically defined by patterned masks. These patterned masks are generally composed of an organic photoresist material; however “hard” mask materials, such as silicon nitride Si3N4, or other material that may be etched at a slower rate than the dielectric material, may also be used as the mask material. Selective anisotropic etching allows for the formation of features such as contact and via holes by removing at least a portion of the underlying dielectric material while essentially preserving the patterned mask. The dielectric materials to be selectively removed from under the mask openings include: silicon in its various forms such as crystalline silicon, polysilicon, amorphous silicon, and epitaxial silicon; compositions containing silicon such as silicon dioxide (SiO2); undoped silicate glass (USG); doped silicate glass such as boron doped silicate glass (BSG); phosphorous doped silicate glass (PSG), and borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG); silicon and nitrogen containing materials such as silicon nitride (Si3N4), silicon carbonitride (SiCN) and silicon oxynitride (SiON); and materials having a low dielectric constant (e.g., having a dielectric constant of 4.2 or less) such as fluorine doped silicate glass (FSG), organosilicate glass (OSG), organofluoro-silicate glass (OFSG), polymeric materials such as silsesquioxanes (HSQ, HSiO1.5) and methyl silsesquioxanes (MSQ, RSiO1.5 where R is a methyl group), and porous low dielectric constant materials.
Some of the key manufacturing requirements for selective anisotropic dielectric etching include: high etch rate of the underlying dielectric materials; zero or low loss of the patterned mask, i.e., high etch selectivity of the dielectric material over the mask material; maintaining the critical dimensions of the patterned mask; maintaining desired etch profile, i.e. high anisotropy; maintaining uniformity across the wafer; minimal variation over feature sizes and density, i.e., no microloading effects; high selectivity over underlying etch stop layer such as SiC, SiN, and silicon etc.; and sidewall passivation films that can be easily removed in post-etch ashing, stripping and/or rinsing. Of the foregoing requirements, achieving high etch selectivity of the dielectric materials over the mask material and maintaining the critical dimensions of the patterned mask may be the most important yet the most challenging performance requirements to obtain.
As the IC geometry shrinks, newer photoresist materials are increasingly being adopted for deep ultraviolet (DUV) photolithography at sub-200 nm, i.e., 193 nm, wavelengths. DUV photoresist materials are generally less resistant to plasma etching than older-generation photoresist materials. Further, the thickness of the DUV photoresist is typically only a few hundreds of nanometers, and in some instances less than 200 nm, because of the absorptivity of DUV light by the resist materials. Because of the limits set by dielectric break-down, the thickness of the dielectric layer are generally not reduced below 0.5 to 1 μm. However, the minimum feature sizes of the contact and via holes penetrating the dielectric layer may be below 0.5 μm. As a result, the holes etched within the dielectric material need to be highly anisotropic and have high aspect ratios (HAR), defined as the ratio of the depth to the minimum width of a hole. High aspect ratio (HAR) etching of dielectric materials may require via/trench depth of over several micrometers or an order of magnitude higher than the thickness of the DUV. The further evolution of photolithography technology to lower wavelengths, i.e., 157 nm and EUV photolithography, may lead to the need for even higher etch selectivity between the underlying dielectric materials and the photoresist materials.
Fluorocarbon plasmas are commonly used for selective anisotropic etching of silicon-containing dielectric materials such as SiO2. The fluorocarbons used for selective anisotropic etching include: CF4 (tetrafluoromethane), CHF3 (trifluoromethane), C4F8 (octafluorocyclobutane), C5F8 (octafluorocyclopentene), and C4F6 (hexafluoro-1,3-butadiene). These fluorocarbons dissociate in plasma to form reactive fluorocarbon species, such as, for example CF, CF2, C2F3 etc. The fluorocarbon species may provide the reactive source of fluorine to etch the underlying silicon-containing dielectric materials in the presence of, for example, energetic ion bombardment. Further, the fluorocarbon species may form a fluorocarbon polymer that protects the photoresist and the sidewalls of the etch features which is referred to herein as the polymerization reaction.
For selective anisotropic etching applications, the substrate typically contains one or more dielectric layers covered with a patterned photoresist coating to provide a feature such as a contact or via hole within the dielectric material. Depending on factors such as location, substrate chemistry, ion fluxes, etc., the fluorocarbon polymer may initiate distinctly different plasma-surface chemical reactions. For example, the fluorocarbon polymer may form a protective layer against sputtering damage of argon ions and/or other reactive species in the plasma at the photoresist surface. By contrast, the presence of oxygen within the dielectric material and high energy ions impinging upon the exposed dielectric surface may facilitate the formation of volatile species which is referred to herein as the etch reaction. The volatile species formed from the etch reaction can be readily removed from the reactor via vacuum pump or other means. However, the etch reaction does not typically occur on the sidewall surfaces of vias or trenches since there is no ion bombardment impinging upon the vertical surfaces. Therefore, the fluorocarbon polymer may provide a protective or passivation layer on the unexposed dielectric material such as feature sidewalls whereas the etch reaction of the fluorocarbon polymer with the exposed dielectric forms volatile species thereby removing the dielectric material. Thus, at the dielectric surface, the end-product of the polymerization reaction, or the fluorocarbon polymer, serves as source for the reactive fluorine in the etch reaction, provided that it can be adequately removed so that no fluorocarbon polymer accumulates on the exposed dielectric surface thereby impeding the etching process.
To protect the exposed photoresist surface, it may be desirable to have a fluorocarbon plasma that is highly polymerizing to encourage the formation of the fluorocarbon polymer. However, at the exposed dielectric surface, if the etch reaction cannot compete with the polymerization reaction, the thin fluorocarbon film can accumulate and the etch process may stop. To optimize the competing reactions of etching and polymerization, molecular oxygen (O2) is routinely added to the fluorocarbon etch plasma. The etch rate of the dielectric material may be increased if an optimal balance between the competing reactions can be achieved. Unfortunately, O2 can attack the organic photoresist materials thereby increasing the photoresist etch rate. This may result in the undesirable decrease of etch selectivity of the dielectric material over the photoresist material within the substrate.
Over the years, the preferred fluorocarbon gases for selective anisotropic dielectric etching have evolved from a mixture of CF4 and CHF3, to C4F8, recently to C5F8, and more recently to C4F6. Until now, molecular oxygen (O2) has been used as the oxidizer to fine-tune fluorocarbon plasmas to achieve the optimized balance between high etch rate of dielectric materials and high etch selectivity of dielectric over photoresist materials. However, the IC industry is approaching the limit of the O2/fluorocarbon chemistry for the most demanding selective anisotropic HAR dielectric etching at deep micron feature sizes.
The prior art provides some alternatives to traditionally used fluorocarbons for various etching and/or cleaning applications. For example, European Patent Application EP 0924282 describes the use of hypofluorites by themselves or in a mixture with an inert gas, a hydrogen or hydrogen-containing gas (e.g., HI, HBr, HCl, CH4, NH3, H2, C2H2, and C2H6), and/or an oxygen or oxygen-containing gas (i.e., CO, NO, N2O, and NO2) as a replacement for fluorocarbon gases. Japanese Patent Application JP 2000/038581A describes the use of bis-trifluoromethyl peroxide as an etch gas by itself or in a mixture containing a hydrogen or hydrogen-containing gas. Japanese Patent Applications JP 2000/038675A and JP 2002/184765A describe the use of bis-trifluoromethyl peroxide, fluoroxytrifluoromethane (FTM), or bis-(fluoroxy)difluoromethane (BDM) as a cleaning gas to remove deposits from CVD chambers. Despite these alternatives, there remains a need in the art for a new etch chemistry that can provide a higher etch rate of dielectric materials along with a higher etch selectivity of dielectric materials over photoresist masks.
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
The present invention satisfies one, if not all, of the needs in the art by providing a mixture and a method comprising same for removing at least a portion of a dielectric material from a layered substrate. Specifically, in one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mixture for etching a dielectric material in a layered substrate comprising: a fluorocarbon and an oxidizer selected from the group consisting of a hypofluorite, a fluoroperoxide, a fluorotrioxide, and combinations thereof.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mixture for etching a dielectric material in a layered substrate comprising: a fluorocarbon and a hypofluorite.
In a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mixture for etching a dielectric material in a layered substrate comprising: a fluorocarbon and a fluoroperoxide.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mixture for etching a dielectric material in a layered substrate comprising: a fluorocarbon and a fluorotrioxide.
In a still further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for the removal of a portion of a dielectric material from a layered substrate comprising: placing the layered substrate within a reaction chamber; providing a gas mixture comprising a fluorocarbon gas and an oxidizer gas selected from the group consisting of a hypofluorite, a fluoroperoxide, a fluorotrioxide, and combinations thereof; applying energy to the gas mixture to form active species; and contacting the layered substrate with the active species wherein the active species react with and remove the portion of the dielectric material.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for etching at least a portion of a dielectric material from a layered substrate comprising: contacting the layered substrate with the active species of a mixture comprising a fluorocarbon, an oxidizer selected from the group consisting of a hypofluorite, a fluoroperoxide, a fluorotrioxide, and combinations thereof, wherein the active species at least partially reacts with and removes at least a portion of the dielectric material.
These and other aspects of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description.
The present invention provides a mixture and a method comprising same for the removal of a substance from a layered substrate, that uses a fluorine-containing oxidizer such as hypofluorites, fluoro-peroxides, and/or fluoro-trioxides to decrease the amount of, or replace, molecular oxygen (O2) as the oxidizer, in conjunction with one or more fluorocarbons. The mixture and the method of the present invention may be used, for example, for selective anisotropic etching of a dielectric material from a layered substrate. In certain preferred embodiments, the mixture may be exposed to one or more energy sources sufficient to form active species, which then react with and remove the substance from the substrate.
In the present invention, it is believed that the use of a fluorine-containing oxidizer such as a hypofluorite, a fluoroperoxide, and/or a fluorotrioxide may be used in place of some, if not all of the O2, thereby preventing the erosion of the mask or photoresist material. Further, the fluorine-containing oxidizer may increase the dielectric etch rate by providing additional fluorine atoms into the etch reaction and subsequently the dielectric surface. Thus, the use of hypofluorites, fluoro-peroxides, and/or fluoro-trioxides to replace or significantly reduce the use of O2 as the oxidizer in a mixture containing at least one fluorocarbon may enhance both the etch rate of dielectric materials and the etch selectivity of dielectric materials over photoresist materials.
As mentioned previously, the mixture of the present invention comprises the following reagents: at least one fluorocarbon and a fluorine-containing oxidizer such as a hypofluorite, a fluoroperoxide, and/or a fluorotrioxide. Although the reactive agents and mixture used herein may be sometimes described herein as “gaseous”, it is understood that the reagents may be delivered directly as a gas to the reactor, delivered as a vaporized liquid, a sublimed solid and/or transported by an inert diluent gas into the reactor.
The mixture of the present invention contains one or more fluorocarbon gases in conjunction with the one or more fluorine-containing oxidizer. The term “fluorocarbon” as used herein includes perfluorocarbons (compounds containing C and F atoms), hydrofluorocarbons (compounds containing C, H, and F), oxyhydrofluorocarbons (compounds containing C, H, O, and F), and oxyfluorocarbons (compounds containing C, O, and F). In one embodiment, the perfluorocarbon is a compound having the formula ChFi wherein h is a number ranging from 1 to 10 and i is a number ranging from h to 2h+2. Examples of perfluorocarbons having the formula ChFi include, but are not limited to, CF4 (tetrafluoromethane), C4F8 (octafluorocyclobutane), C5F8 (octafluorocyclopentene), and C4F6 (hexafluoro-1,3-butadiene). In another embodiment, the fluorocarbon is a hydrofluorocarbon compound having the formula CjHkFI wherein j is a number from 1 to 10, and k and l are positive integers with (k+l) from j to 2j+2. An example of a hydrofluorocarbon compound having the formula CjHkFl includes CHF3 (trifluoromethane). In other embodiments, the fluorocarbon is an oxyfluorocarbon or a oxyhydrofluorocarbon. Examples of oxyfluorocarbon compounds include perfluorocyclopentene oxide, hexafluoro-cyclobutanone, hexafluorodihydrofuran, hexafluorobutadiene epoxide, tetrafluorocyclobutanedione perfluorotetrahydrofuran (C4F8O), hexafluoropropylene oxide (C3F6O), perfluoromethylvinyl ether (C3F6O), and combinations thereof. An example of a oxyhydrofluorocarbon compound includes heptafluorocyclobutanol. The amount of fluorocarbon gas present in the mixture may range from 1 to 99%, preferably from 1 to 50%, and more preferably from 2 to 20% by volume.
In certain embodiments of the present invention, it may be preferable to use a fluorocarbon with a lower ratio of fluorine atoms to carbon atoms, referred to herein as F/C ratio, within the molecule. By using fluorocarbons with a lower F/C ratio, it is believed that the etch plasmas can form fluorocarbon polymers having a higher degree of cross-linking. Highly cross-linked fluorocarbon polymers may be more resistant to the etch reaction thereby providing better protection to the photoresist layer and sidewalls. However, other fluorocarbons having a F/C of 2 or greater may also be used.
In addition to the one or more fluorocarbons, the mixture of the present invention contains at least one fluorine-containing oxidizer gas selected from the group consisting of a hypofluorite, a fluoroperoxide, a fluorotrioxide, or a combination thereof. A hypofluorite, as described herein, refers to a molecule that contains at least one —O—F group. The hypofluorite preferably is a compound having the formula CxHyFz(OF)nOm wherein x is a number ranging from 0 to 8, y is a number ranging from 0 to 17, z is a number ranging from 0 to 17, n is 1 or 2, and m is 0, 1, or 2. Examples of hypofluorites include fluoroxytrifluoromethane (FTM, CF3—O—F), methylhypofluorite (CH3° F.), hypofluorous acid (HOF), trifluoroacetyl hypofluorite (CF3C(O)OF), acetyl hypofluorite (CH3C(O)OF), and bis-(fluoroxy)difluoromethane (BDM, F—O—CF2—O—F). A fluoro-peroxide, as described herein, is a molecule that contains at least one —O—O— group and where some if not all of the hydrogen atoms in the molecule are replaced with fluorine atoms. Examples of fluoro-peroxides include F—O—O—F (difluoro-peroxide), CF3—O—O—F (fluoro-trifluoromethyl-peroxide), CF3—O—O—CF3 (bis-trifluoromethyl peroxide), CF3—O—O—C2F5 (pentafluoroethyl-trifluoromethyl-peroxide), C2F5—O—O—C2F5 (bis-pentafluoroethyl-peroxide), CF2O2 (difluorodioxirane), CF3OC(O)OOC(O)OCF3 (bis-trifluoromethyl peroxydicarbonate), and CF3—O—O—C(O)F (fluoroformyl trifluoromethyl peroxide), and FC(O)—O—O—C(O)F (bis-fluoroformyl-peroxide). A fluoro-trioxide, as described herein, is a molecule that contains at least one —O—O— group and where some or all of the hydrogen atoms in the molecule are replaced with fluorine atoms. Examples of fluoro-trioxides include CF3—O—O—O—CF3 (bis-trifluoromethyl-trioxide), CF3—O—O—O—F (fluoro-trifluoromethyl-trioxide), and CF3—O—O—O—C(O)F (fluoroformyl trifluoromethyl-trioxide). The amount of fluorine-containing oxidizer gas present in the mixture may range from 1 to 99%, preferably from 1 to 75%, and more preferably from 1 to 50% by volume. The ratio by volume of the fluorine-containing oxidizer gas to fluorocarbon gas within the mixture may range from 0.1:1 to 20:1, preferably from 0.1:1 to 10:1, and more preferably from 0.1:1 to 5:1.
In addition to the reactive agents described herein, inert diluent gases such as argon, nitrogen, helium, neon, krypton, xenon or combinations thereof can also be added. Inert diluent gases can, for example, modify the plasma characteristics to better suit some specific applications. In addition, ions from inert gases such as, for example, argon may provide the energetic bombardment to facilitate the selective anisotropic etch reactions. The concentration of the inert gas within the mixture can range from 0 to 99%, preferably from 25 to 99%, and more preferably from 50 to 99% by volume.
In some embodiments, the mixture may further comprise an oxidizer such as, for example, O2, 03, CO, CO2, and N2O. In these embodiments, the amount of oxidizer present in the mixture may range from 0 to 99%, preferably from 0 to 75%, and more preferably from 0 to 50% by volume.
The chemical reagents can be delivered to the reaction chamber by a variety of means, such as, for example, conventional cylinders, safe delivery systems, vacuum delivery systems, solid or liquid-based generators that create the chemical reagent and/or the gas mixture at the point of use (POU). In one embodiment, the hypofluorites, fluoroperoxides, and/or fluorotrioxides, can be delivered to the reaction chamber via a compressed gas cylinder. In an alternative example, the chemical reagent such as the hypofluorite FTM can be generated at the point of use through, for example, the reaction of 1 or 2 molar equivalents of fluorine gas (F2) with COF2 or CO, respectively, in the presence of a catalyst. The hypofluorite BDM can be generated at the point of use through the reaction of 2 molar equivalents of fluorine gas with CO2 in the presence of a catalyst. The source of F2 and COF2 in the foregoing reactions can be from a compressed cylinder, a safe delivery system, or a vacuum delivery system. Additionally, F2 can be generated at the point of use via electrolytic dissociation of 2 molar equivalents of HF to form H2 and F2
The process of the invention is useful for etching substances such as a dielectric material from a substrate. Suitable substrates that may be used include, but are not limited to, semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide (“GaAs”), boron nitride (“BN”), silicon in its various forms such as crystalline silicon, polysilicon, amorphous silicon, and epitaxial silicon, compositions containing silicon such as silicon dioxide (“SiO2”), silicon carbide (“SiC”), silicon oxycarbide (“SiOC”), silicon nitride (“SiN”), silicon carbonitride (“SiCN”), organosilicate glasses (“OSG”), organofluorosilicate glasses (“OFSG”), fluorosilicate glasses (“FSG”), and other appropriate substrates or mixtures thereof. Substrates may further comprise a variety of layers that include, for example, antireflective coatings, photoresists, organic polymers, porous organic and inorganic materials, metals such as copper and aluminum, or diffusion barrier layers, e.g., TiN, Ti(C)N, TaN, Ta(C)N, Ta, W, WN, or W(C)N.
The mixture of the present invention is exposed to one or more energy sources sufficient to generate active species to at least partially react with the dielectric material and form volatile species. The energy source for the exposing step may include, but not be limited to, α-particles, β-particles, γ-rays, x-rays, high energy electron, electron beam sources of energy, ultraviolet (wavelengths ranging from 10 to 400 nm), visible (wavelengths ranging from 400 to 750 nm), infrared (wavelengths ranging from 750 to 105 nm), microwave (frequency >109 Hz), radio-frequency wave (frequency >106 Hz) energy; thermal, RF, DC, arc or corona discharge, sonic, ultrasonic or megasonic energy, and combinations thereof.
In one embodiment, the mixture is exposed to an energy source sufficient to generate a plasma having active species contained therein. Specific examples of using the plasma for etching processes include, but are not limited to, reactive ion etch (RIE), magnetically enhanced reactive ion etch (MERIE), a inductively coupled plasma (ICP) with or without a separate bias power source, transformer coupled plasma (TCP), hollow anode type plasma, helical resonator plasma, electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) with or without a separate bias power source, RF or microwave excited high density plasma source with or without a separate bias power source, etc. In embodiments wherein a RIE process is employed, the etching process is conducted using a capacitively coupled parallel plate reaction chamber. In these embodiments, the layered substrate (e.g., a patterned wafer) may be placed onto a RF powered lower electrode within a reaction chamber. The substrate is held onto the electrode by either a mechanical clamping ring or an electrostatic chuck. The backside of the substrate may be cooled with an inert gas such as helium. The RF power source may be, for example, an RF generator operating at a frequency of 13.56 MHz, however other frequencies can also be used. The RF power density can vary from 0.3 to 30 W/cm2, preferably from 1 to 16 W/cm2. The operating pressure can vary from 0.1 to 10,000 mTorr, preferably from 1 to 1000 mTorr, and more preferably from 1 to 100 mTorr. The flow rate of the mixture into the reaction chamber ranges from 10 to 50,000 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm), preferably from 20 to 10,000 sccm, and more preferably from 25 to 1,000 sccm.
The invention will be illustrated in more detail with reference to the following Examples, but it should be understood that the present invention is not deemed to be limited thereto.
The following examples were conducted in two different etch reactors: a modified Gaseous Electronics Conference Reference Reactor (“GEC”) plasma reactor and a commercial production scale Applied Materials P-5000 Mark II reactor. The experiments were conducted in a parallel plate capacitively coupled RF plasma reactor 100 similar to the setup illustrated in
The GEC reactor operates in a capacitively coupled reactive ion etcher (RIE) mode. A 100 mm wafer is placed onto the RF powered lower electrode, which has an effective RF “hot” surface area of about 182 cm2. Chemical reagents such as FTM, Ar, C4F6, and O2 flow through the showerhead into the reaction chamber. RF power at 13.56 MHz is delivered from an RF generator through an automatic matching network. The lower electrode assembly is equipped with an electrostatic chuck and helium backside cooling system. Typical helium backside cooling pressure on the GEC reactor 100 is servo-controlled at about 4 Torr. Like the GEC reactor, the Applied Materials P-5000 Mark II reactor also operates in capacitively coupled RIE mode, with magnetic confinement to increase plasma density and hence to improve etch rate and uniformity. This type of reactor is often termed as magnetically enhanced reactive ion etcher (MERlE). The Applied Materials Mark II reactor uses a clamping ring mechanical chuck and helium backside cooling at 8 Torr for processing 200 mm wafers. In both reactors, the wafer chuck is water cooled at 20° C.
Typical etch recipes may include a fluorocarbon etch gas, such as C4F6 (hexafluoro-1,3-butadiene) and/or molecular O2 (comparative examples) or a fluorine-containing oxidizer gas such as FTM. To facilitate selective anisotropic etching, inert gases such as argon are often used as the diluent with the above etchants. In the following examples unless stated otherwise, the reactor was powered at 13.56 MHz at 1000 W, or approximately 3 W/cm2 power density. This resulted in a typical direct current (DC) bias voltage of about −900V. The chamber pressure was kept at 35 mTorr. The magnetic field was set at 50 Gauss.
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was performed on a cross section of a piece of a cleaved patterned wafer fragment at a magnification of 35,000 times.
A set of experiments was performed on the GEC plasma reactor under the following conditions: chamber pressure 35 mTorr, RF power 300 W at 13.56 MHz, or RF power density of 1.6 W/cm2. In the GEC reactor, the RF power and pressure resulted in a DC self-bias voltage around −900 V. A 10 mole % quantity of C4F6 is used as the etch fluorocarbon gas with various FTM/C4F6 ratios in the experiments. In all recipes, the total feed gas flow rate is fixed at 110 standard cubic centimeter per minute (sccm) and the balance of the feed gas mixture is made of argon as the diluent. Silicon wafers coated with a 1 micrometer thick thermally grown SiO2 film or about 400 nm thick 193 nm photoresist film were etched in the experiments. Film thicknesses were measured by reflectometer before and after the plasma exposure to determine the etch rate. Table 1 lists the results as a function of the FTM/C4F6 ratio.
Table 1 shows a trend that as the FTM/C4F6 ratio increases, both SiO2 and photoresist etch rate increases so that the etch selectivity SiO2/photoresist decreases. This trend is consistent with the general trend of increasing oxidizer/C4F6 ratio in fluorocarbon plasma etch.
As a comparison of relative performance, a series of experiments were conducted using conventional O2/C4F6 chemistry on the GEC reactor. Except that O2 is used as the oxidizer rather than FTM, all other processing conditions are the same as in Example 1. Table 2 lists the results as a function of O2/C4F6 ratio.
It is evident from comparing the present example to example 1 that FTM/C4F6 chemistry offers both higher SiO2 etch rate and higher SiO2/photoresist etch selectivity under otherwise identical RF power, pressure, total flow rate, and C4F6 concentration. For example, at similar photoresist etch rate of about 20 nm/min, FTM/C4F6 chemistry showed about 50% higher SiO2 etch rate, and about 40% higher SiO2/photoresist etch selectivity.
To delineate the role of each gas component in Example 1, and to reveal the synergistic effects of FTM/C4F6 mixture, a series of experiments were conducted using only FTM diluted by argon on the GEC reactor. The same set of FTM flows were used as that in the Example 1 except that C4F6 was not fed into the reactor. All other processing conditions were the same as in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 3.
It is clearly evident that without C4F6, diluted FTM showed much higher etch rate for photoresist than that of SiO2, resulting the etch selectivity of SiO2/photoresist of only about 0.5. In fact, the etch rate of FTM without C4F6 is almost ten times of the etch rate of FTM with C4F6. Such high etch rate of photoresist will result in complete loss of the mask resist layer before the completion of etching the underlying dielectric layer, hence loss of critical dimension for anisotropic features. Comparing to example 1, this demonstrates that, without fluorocarbons such as C4F6, FTM by itself or diluted with an inert gas does not yield acceptable selective anisotropic etch performance.
A set of etch experiments with patterned wafers such as that depicted in
In addition to FTM/C4F6 ratio, C4F6 mole % was also varied. All the other processing conditions were the same as example 1. After plasma etching, the wafer was taken out of the reactor, broken into smaller pieces and analyzed by SEM. The SiO2 etch rates were determined from the via depth in the SEM images, and the photoresist etch rates were determined from changes in the photoresist layer thickness from the SEM image. Table 4 lists the results from 0.35 micrometer via measurements.
Referring to Table 4, it is apparent that the patterned wafer etch showed the same satisfactory results as the unpatterned wafer etch. This demonstrates the viability of the FTM/C4F6 chemistry for selective anisotropic etch of dielectric materials.
It can be seen from
For comparison, patterned wafer etch was performed using O2/C4Ff/Ar chemistry. Table 5 lists the processing recipe and results. This recipe was the optimized O2/C4F6 recipe on our GEC plasma reactor. Other than the substitution of O2 for FTM as the oxidizer, all other processing parameters are the same as example 4.
Consistent with the unpatterned wafer etch results, O2/C4F6 patterned wafer etch also showed lower SiO2 etch rate and lower SiO2/photoresist selectivity than FTM/C4F6 chemistry.
The following example used a FTM/C4Fd/Ar mixture to conduct etching within an Applied Materials P-5000 Mark II reactor. 200 mm wafers coated with SiO2 or 193 nm photoresist materials are used in the evaluation. About 1 micrometer thick SiO2 film was deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS). About 400 nm thick 193 nm photoresist was deposited by spin-on. The etch experiments were carried out at 35 mTorr chamber pressure, 50 Gauss magnetic field, and 1000 W RF power at 13.56 MHz (or about 3 W/cm2 RF power density), which results in a dc self bias voltage of about −900 Volts. Table 6 provides the process recipes and results.
The advantage of using FTM as the oxidizer in combination with C4F6 for selective anisotropic dielectric etch is also clearly shown in the commercial Applied Materials P-5000 Mark II reactor.
Similar to comparative example 3 performed on the GEC reactor, comparative experiments using FTM without C4F6 were conducted on the commercial Applied Materials P-5000 Mark II reactor. The recipe and results are listed in Table 7.
Again, the synergistic effect between FTM and C4F6 is confirmed. Without C4F6, the FTM/Ar mixture showed nearly 50% reduction in SiO2 etch rate, yet five times increase in photoresist etch rate, resulting in a ten times decrease in SiO2/photoresist etch selectivity. Thus, without C4F6, FTM cannot be used as a viable gas for selective anisotropic etch of dielectric materials.
It is believed that hypofluorites, fluoro-peroxides, and/or fluoro-trioxides alone cannot form a fluorocarbon polymer film to protect the photoresist or mask materials. Rather, hypofluorites, fluoro-peroxides, and/or fluoro-trioxides alone result in non-selective etch of both the photoresist and the dielectric materials, as shown in comparative examples 3 and 7. Thus, it is believed that the synergistic effects of hypofluorites, fluoro-peroxides, and/or fluoro-trioxides interacting with fluorocarbons can produce the benefits of higher etch rate of dielectric materials while maintaining a higher etch selectivity of the dielectric material over the photoresist material.
The following example was conducted in accordance with the method of example 6 using the following process recipe: 25 sccm FTM, 20 sccm C4F6, 155 sccm Ar, 35 mTorr chamber pressure, 50 Gauss magnetic field, 1000 W RF power, and 8 Torr He backside cooling pressure.
While the invention has been described in detail and with reference to specific examples thereof, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.
This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/619,922, filed Jul. 15, 2003, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10619922 | Jul 2003 | US |
| Child | 11693302 | Mar 2007 | US |
