Chapter 4 Etching

1. Introduction to etching.
2. Wet chemical etching: isotropic.
3. Anisotropic etching of crystalline Si.
4. Dry etching overview.
5. Plasma etching mechanism.
6. Types of plasma etch system.
7. Dry etching issues.
8. Dry etching method for various films.
9. Deep Si etching (can etch through a wafer).

1
 Material removal: etching processes
Etching is done either in “dry” or “wet” methods:
• Wet etching uses liquid etchants with wafers immersed in etchant solution.
• Wet etch is cheap and simple, but hard to control (not reproducible), not popular for
nanofabrication for pattern transfer purpose.
• Dry etch uses gas phase etchants in plasma, both chemical and physical (sputtering process).
• Dry plasma etch works for many dielectric materials and some metals (Al, Ti, Cr, Ta, W…).
• For other metals, ion milling (Ar+) can be used, but with low etching selectivity. (as a result,
for metals that cannot be dry-etched, it is better to pattern them using liftoff)
Etching is consisted of 3 processes:
• Mass transport of reactants (through a boundary layer) to the surface to be etched.
• Reaction between reactants and the film to be etched at the surface.
• Mass transport of reaction products from the surface through the surface boundary layer.

Figures of merit: etch rate, etch rate uniformity, selectivity, and anisotropy. 2
 Figures of merit: selectivity
Etching selectivity:
• The ratio of etching rate between different
materials, usually the higher the better.
• Generally, chemical etching has high selectivity,
physical etching (sputtering, milling) has low
selectivity.
• For fabrication, the selectivity is usually between
film material and mask material, and is defined Temperature
by Sfm. (f: film; m: mask) affects selectivity

Etching with mask erosion 3

 Selective over-etch of different materials
The film is etched through to the bottom, plus over-etch to etch laterally for under-cut profile.

4
 Figures of merit: anisotropy
Isotropic: etch rate is the same along all directions.
Anisotropic: etch rate depends on direction, usually vertical vs. horizontal.

For isotropic, RI=1.

For complete
anisotropic, RI=0.

CD: critical dimension 5

 Figures of merit: anisotropy

Generally speaking, chemical process (wet etch, plasma etch) leads to isotropic etch;
whereas physical process (directional energetic bombardment) leads to anisotropic etch.
Isotropic:
• Best to use with large features when sidewall slope does not matter, and to undercut
the mask (for easy liftoff).
• Large critical dimension (CD, i.e. feature size) loss, generally not for nano-fabrication.
• Quick, easy, and cheap.
Anisotropic:
• Best for making small features with vertical sidewalls, preferred pattern transfer
method for nano-fabrication and some micro-fabrication.
• Typically more costly. 6
 Chapter 4 Etching

1. Introduction to etching.
2. Wet chemical etching: isotropic.
3. Anisotropic etching of crystalline Si.
4. Dry etching overview.
5. Plasma etching mechanism.
6. Types of plasma etch system.
7. Dry etching issues.
8. Dry etching method for various films.
9. Deep Si etching (can etch through a wafer).

7
 Wet etching
• Wet etching was used exclusively till 1970’s when feature size >3um.
• For small scale features, large etch bias leads to significant CD (critical dimension) loss.
• For today’s IC industry, wet etching is used for noncritical feature sizes.
• Advantages: high selectivity, relatively inexpensive equipment, batch system with high
throughput, etch rate can be very fast (many μm/min).
• Disadvantages: generally isotropic profile, high chemical usage, poor process control (not
so reproducible), excessive particulate contamination.

• The etch rate can be controlled by any of the three serial processes: reactants transport to
the surface (depends on chemical concentration and stirring…), reaction rate (depends on
temperature), reaction products transport from the surface (depends on stirring…).
• Preference is to have reaction rate controlled process because
o Etch rate can be increased by temperature
o Good control over reaction rate – temperature of a liquid is easy to control
• Mass transport control will result in non-uniform etch rate: edge etches faster.
• Etchant is often stirred to minimize boundary layer and make etching more uniform. 8
 Isotropic wet etching (silicon dioxide)
SiO2 etch rate
SiO2 + 6HF  H2SiF6+2H2O
• Etch is isotropic and easily controlled by dilution
of HF in H2O.
• Thermally grown oxide etches at
o 120nm/min in 6H2O:1HF
o 1 m/min in 49 wt% HF (i.e. undiluted as
purchased HF).
• Faster etch rate for doped or deposited oxide.
• High etch selectivity (SiO2/Si) > 100
• Buffered HF (BHF) or buffered oxide etchant
(BOE) provides consistent etch rate HF is very dangerous! Because:
o In regular HF etches, HF is consumed and the • It is not a so strong acid (you don’t feel
etch rate drops. the pain for diluted HF).
o HF buffered with NH4F to maintain HF • Deceptive: it looks just like water.
concentration, typically 6NH4F : 1HF • It penetrates skin and attacks slowly the
NH4F→NH3↑+ HF flesh and the bone.
• It might be too late when you begin to
feel the pain.
9
 Isotropic etch (silicon)

• Silicon is etched by nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid mixtures (HNO3 may be
replaced by other strong oxidants like H2O2)
• HNO3 partially decomposes to NO2, which oxidizes the surface of Si.
Si + 2NO2 + 2H2O  SiO2 + H2 + 2HNO2

• The HF then dissolves the SiO2. The overall reaction is:

Si + HNO3 + 6HF → H2SiF6 + HNO2 + H2O + H2

• Excess nitric acid results in a lot of silicon dioxide formation and etch rate becomes
limited by HF removal of oxide (polishing).
• CH3COOH (acetic acid) or H2O can be added as diluent, but etch differently.
• Acetic acid is preferred because it prevents HNO3 dissociation.

10
Isotropic etch (silicon nitride)

11
 Isotropic etching (aluminum)

50H3PO4 : 20H2O : 1HNO3 : 1CH3COOH

Al3+ is water-soluble

• Aluminum etches in water, phosphoric, nitric and acetic acid mixtures.

• Converts Al to Al2O3with nitric acid (evolves H2).
• Dissolve Al2O3 in phosphoric acid.
• Gas evolution leading to bubbles.
• Local etch rate goes down where bubble is formed, leading to non-uniformity.
• Al can also be etched in (diluted) acid or base, such as HCl, HNO 3, H2SO4, NaOH or
KOH, but less controllable (etch the native oxide slowly and un-controllably, then once
oxide all etched away, etch Al metal very fast).
• The etch seems more repeatable in diluted HF (1:100 diluted), if one doesn’t bother
to mix the above mixture (50H3PO4…).

12
Etchant Etches Doesn't etch
H3PO4(19), Hac(1), HNO3(1), H2O(2) Al, SiN, M SiO2, Si, PR
HF, BOE (HF + NH4F) SiO2, M Si, SiN, Au Summary
H2SO4(3), H2O2(1) pirahna Organics, M Si, SiO2, SiN
I2(I),KI(2),H2O(10) Au, M Si, SiO2, SiN, M, PR
NH4OH(5), H2O2(1) Polymers, Al Si, SiO2, SiN, M M: metal;
HNO3(64), NH4F(3), H2O(33) Si, M SiN, PR PR: photoresist;
HCl(3), HNO3(1) (aqua regia) Au, other M Cr, Si, SiN, SiO2
Hac: acetic acid
Those are just starting
point, can use
different ratios.
E.g. the ratio for the Al
etchant is different
from previous slide.
In addition, most
metals can be etched
by (diluted) acid,
except Ti and Cr that
form a dense stable
oxide on top.
Ti can be etched by
HF; Cr by ceric
ammonium nitrate
plus acid.
13
 Chapter 4 Etching

1. Introduction to etching.
2. Wet chemical etching: isotropic.
3. Anisotropic etching of crystalline Si.
4. Dry etching overview.
5. Plasma etching mechanism.
6. Types of plasma etch system.
7. Dry etching issues.
8. Dry etching method for various films.
9. Deep Si etching (can etch through a wafer).

NE 343: Microfabrication and Thin Film Technology

Instructor: Bo Cui, ECE, University of Waterloo, bcui@uwaterloo.ca 14
Textbook: Silicon VLSI Technology by Plummer, Deal, Griffin
 An-isotropic wet etching of Si: overview

• Orientation selective etch of silicon occur in

hydroxide solutions partly because of the closer
packing of some orientations relative to other
orientations
o Density of planes: <111> > <110>, <100>
o Etch rate: R(111) << R(110), R(100)
• <100> direction etches faster than <111>
direction, with etch rate
o R(100) = few 100  R(111)
o It is reaction rate limited
• Used very widely in MEMS (micro electro
mechanical systems), since it is inexpensive, fast {100} and {110} have 2 bonds below
etching and easy to control. surface & 2 dangling bonds that can react.
{111} plane has three of its bonds below
surface & only one dangling bond to react
→ much slower etch rate.

15
 An-isotropic wet etching of Si
KOH etch example:
250 g KOH: 200 g 2-propanol, 800 g H2O at 80oC KOH etching of <100> Si,
1000 nm/min of [100] 30% KOH solution
Etch stops at p++ layers
Selectivity: {111}:{110}:{100}  1:600:400

m/hour
Seidel’s etching model:
Si + 2OH-  Si(OH)22+ + 2e-
Si(OH)22+ + 2OH-  Si(OH)4 + 2e-
Si(OH)4 + 4e- + 4H2O  Si(OH)62- + 2H2
This is a model, real reaction is complicated.
Si(OH)4 is soluble. temperature
H2 is generated and form bubbles.

EDP: see later slides 16

 Examples: for (100) wafer
Effect of slow {111} etching with KOH: etching virtually stops at {111} plane.

Etched trench

Etching selectivity to thermal oxide 1000,

to LPCVD nitride infinity (>104!). Etch mask: SiO2 or Si3N4 or Cr/Au
But KOH attacks
PECVD oxide
and nitride.
(100) Silicon wafer Etch “stops” at (111) direction

17
 Examples: for (100) wafer

Have been used to make

bubble-jet printer nozzle.

18
 AFM (atomic force microscope) tips

(100) wafer

For (110) (not (100))

wafer, vertical (not
tapered) trench
possible.

What is the
direction along the
grating lines?
19
 Etch stop
In wet etching process, etching depth is hard to control, so need etch stop layer.
Besides oxide and nitride, etching may be stopped by the following two
methods, both related to doping of the silicon substrates.
• Controlled by doping: doped Si dissolved slower than pure Si.
• Controlled by electrochemical etch stop.

Etching stop by boron doping Etch rate

Boron
concentration
5m
Boron
1019 - 1020 concentration
x
Heavily doped boron
layer (5-10m)
mask

Etching direction
20
x
 Electrochemical etch stop
• When silicon is biased with a sufficiently large
anodic potential relative to the etchant, it get
oxidized due to electrochemical passivation,
which then prevents etching.
• For passivation to occur, current flow is required.
• So if current flow can be prevented, there will be
no oxide growth and etching can proceed.
• Current flow can be prevented by adding a
reverse-biased diode structure.

When n-type exposed to solution,

oxide forms and etch stops.
21
 Chapter 4 Etching

1. Introduction to etching.
2. Wet chemical etching: isotropic.
3. Anisotropic etching of crystalline Si.
4. Dry etching overview.
5. Plasma etching mechanism.
6. Types of plasma etch system.
7. Dry etching issues.
8. Dry etching method for various films.
9. Deep Si etching (can etch through a wafer).

22
 Why dry etching?
Dry etching advantages
• Eliminates handling of dangerous acids and solvents
• Uses small amounts of chemicals
• Isotropic or anisotropic/vertical etch profiles
• Directional etching without using the crystal orientation of Si
• Faithful pattern transfer into underlying layers (little feature size loss)
• High resolution and cleanliness
• Less undercutting
• Better process control

Dry etching disadvantages:

• Some gases are quite toxic and corrosive.
• Re-deposition of non-volatile compound on wafers.
• Expensive equipment ($200-500K for R&D, few million for industrial tools ).

Types of dry etching:

• Non-plasma based - uses spontaneous reaction of appropriate reactive gas mixture.
• Plasma based - uses radio frequency (RF) power to drive chemical reaction.
23
 Non-plasma based dry etching
This is very rare. For example,
4Si(s) + 2Cl2 (g) ---> 4SiCl4 (g) + 130 kcal/mole
Although there is a large gain in free energy, the large activation energy does
not allow low temperature processes - reaction is only effective above  800°C.
In order to succeed with “gas” etching, one has to go out of equilibrium.
The solution is plasma etching.
One exception is room temperature XeF2 etching of Si. (same for BrF3 & ClF3)

Xenon di-fluoride (XeF2) etching of Si:

2XeF2 + Si  2Xe (g) + SiF4 (g)
• XeF2 is a white powder, with vapor pressure Gas phase etching, no stiction between
3.8 Torr at 25oC. freed structure and substrate (no liquid
• Isotropic etching, non-polish etching (rough) involved like KOH etch, so no need of
• High selectivity for Al, SiO2, Si3N4, photoresist, drying that collapses pattern due to
and PSG (phospho-silicate glass). capillary force).
• Typical etch rate 1μm/min Popular for MEMS application.
• Heat is generated during exothermic reaction
MEMS: micro electro mechanical systems
• XeF2 reacts with water (or vapor) to form HF 24
 Plasma-based etching
• Directional etching due to presence of ionic species in plasma and (self-) biased
electric field. (The self-bias electric field is not applied externally, but is created
spontaneously in RF plasma)
• Two components exist in plasma
o Ionic species result in directional etching.
o Chemical reactive species result in high etch selectivity.
• Control of the ratio of ionic/reactive components in plasma can modulate the dry
etching rate and etching profile.

Plasma
Neutrals (etchant gas)
Gaseous products
Ions
Free radicals

react
adsorb

surface

Si ( s )  4 F ( g ) SiF4 ( g ) 25
 Chapter 4 Etching

1. Introduction to etching.
2. Wet chemical etching: isotropic.
3. Anisotropic etching of crystalline Si.
4. Dry etching overview.
5. Plasma etching mechanism.
6. Types of plasma etch system.
7. Dry etching issues.
8. Dry etching method for various films.
9. Deep Si etching (can etch through a wafer).

NE 343: Microfabrication and Thin Film Technology

Instructor: Bo Cui, ECE, University of Waterloo, bcui@uwaterloo.ca 26
Textbook: Silicon VLSI Technology by Plummer, Deal, Griffin
 Plasma etching mechanism overview
• In a plasma, reactive neutral chemical species (free radicals, e.g. F atoms or molecular
species CF3) are mainly responsible for the chemical reaction due to their much greater
numbers compared to ions (e.g. CF3+ is also reactive, but with low concentration in a
plasma. But Ar+ is not reactive, and etches/sputters much slower than chemical etching,
even when ion energy is high -- generally chemical etching is much faster than physical).
• Those free radicals and molecules also serve as primary deposition species in PECVD.
• Those free radicals are more abundant than ions because: 1) they are generated at lower
threshold energy (e.g. < 8eV; in comparison, Ar is ionized at 15.7eV); and 2) they
(uncharged radicals) have longer lifetime in the plasma.
• The neutral radicals arrive at cathode surface by diffusion (thus non-directional).
• Charged ions are accelerated to the
cathode due to self-bias.
• (Unless with very high energy of >100eV
as in ion beam/sputter etching), ion itself
doesn’t contribute significantly to the
chemical reaction mostly due to its very
low concentration, but ion
bombardment can greatly enhance the
chemical reaction in ion-enhanced
etching. Figure 10-10 27
 Chemical etch: highly selective, but isotropic
• Due to their incomplete bonding (incomplete outer shells), free radicals (neutral,
e.g. CF3 and F from CF4 plasma) are highly reactive chemical species.

• Free radicals react with film to be etched and form volatile by-products.

• Pure chemical etch is isotropic or nearly isotropic,

and the etching profile depends on arrival angle
and sticking coefficients of free radicals.
• Free radicals (un-charged) in plasma systems have
isotropic arrival angles.
• The sticking coefficient S is very low, typically only
S0.01 (i.e. most free radicals adsorb then just
bounce back without reaction).
• This leads to isotropic character of etch, as free
radicals can etch area beneath the mask due to Adsorption rate onto surface
bouncing, as seen in the figure. The resulted
profile has large undercut.
28
 Sticking coefficient S
Most adsorbed species just left
the adsorption site without doing
anything, so S<<1.

Figure 10-11

“Reaction”, here momentum transfer by physical

bombardment, takes place at every shot, usually
sputter off a few atoms, so S1.
29
 Physical etch component in a plasma etch system
(much less important than chemical etch)
• Ionic species are accelerated toward each electrode by built-in self-bias.
• The ionic species such as Cl2+, CF4+, CF3+ (or Ar+ in a purely physical sputter
etch) strike wafer surface and remove the material to be etched.
• Directional, non-selective - similar sputter yield for different materials.
(But CF3+ can also etch Si chemically, then with high selectivity)
• It may result in significant re-deposition.
Pure physical etch: sputter etching system
• Self-bias few 100V, but low ion energy
(order 10V) due to collision energy loss.
• Thus very low milling rate in a sputter
system, often for surface cleaning only.
• Here is the case for sputter etching system Ar plasma
with gas pressure order 10mTorr.
• For a dedicated ion milling system (no
plasma, see later slides), the pressure is
10-4Torr or even lower (cannot sustain a
plasma), leading to large mean free path,
high ion energy and high milling rate.
30
 Ion enhanced etching (IEE):
chemical etch assisted by physical bombardment
• IEE is an anisotropic (due to directional ion bombardment) and highly selective (due to
chemical reaction) etching process.
• Reactive ion etch (RIE) is the most popular form of IEE.
• Ion bombardment can enhance one of the following steps during chemical etch: surface
adsorption, etching reaction (by physically damaging/weakening the chemical bond of the
material to be etched), by-product (inhibitor layer) removal, and removal of un-reacted
etchants.

Inhibitor layer: e.g. fluorocarbon

polymer formed from CHF3 during
etching of SiO2.
When removal rate << deposition
rate, net deposition will occur,
then the process becomes similar
to PECVD!!
Indeed, the RIE and PECVD are
Chemical etch enhanced Inhibitor removed by pretty similar tools, except PECVD
by ion bombardment ion bombardment is typically heated.
31
Figure 10-13
 IEE: first proof of etching mechanism

Gas phase etch, with or without

the aid of Ar ion beam.
NO plasma.
Very slow etch when pure
chemical or physical etch alone

The ion enhancement could be due to the damage/weakening of silicon lattice by ion
bombardment, which makes the etching by XeF2 easier.
The resulted profile will be anisotropic since the horizontal surfaces are much more
bombarded than vertical ones.
This is one example of CAIBE (chemically assisted ion beam etching), see later slides
32
Ion enhanced etching • Sidewall reactions can lead to an isotropic etch
is highly anisotropic component.
• To prevent sidewall etching, one can build up a
passivation (inhibitor – inhibit chemical reaction)
layer that protects it.
• Then there is a competition between passivating
and etching reaction.
• For the feature base/horizontal surfaces, etch
rates tend to be temperature independent
because of ion energy input (i.e. inhibitor
sputtered away by ions).
• On sidewall, substrate temperature can play an
important role as sidewall passivation depends
on the volatility of the inhibitor that is
controlled by temperature (cryo-etcher at below
-100oC is available recently, then the sidewall
passivation layer is not volatile).
• Even without sidewall passivation, lower
temperature still increases anisotropy since
chemical attack of sidewall is suppressed at low
temperature. (Attack of horizontal surfaces are
assisted by ion bombardment) 33
 High inhibitor Low inhibitor Example:
deposition rate deposition rate
etching profile of Si or SiO2

Teflon

• Fluoropolymer (like Teflon) in CHF3 or CF4+H2 RIE of Si

or SiO2 is the inhibitor.
• If Ar gas is added, inhibitor is mainly removed by ion
bombardment. So less attack of inhibitor on sidewall.
• If O2 gas is added, inhibitor on sidewall is removed at
faster rate than Ar ion, but the etch of inhibitor at
horizontal surface is even faster.
• Yet at very low temperature, inhibitor SiOxFy (not act
as inhibitor at higher temperature when it is volatile)
forms when O2 is added, which is the mechanism for
fast anisotropic etching of Si using cryo-etcher. (deep
Si etcher, popular for MEMS – micro electro
mechanical systems)
34
Figure 10-14
 Anisotropy due to ion bombardment: summary
• Due to its extremely low density, ions don’t contribute much to etching; neutral radicals do.
• So even with directional ion bombardment, the overall etching can still be pretty isotropic.
• For instance, SF6 etch of Si is very isotropic with large undercut like wet etch.
• To achieve anisotropy, there are two mechanisms:
o Energy-driven anisotropy: bombardment by ion disrupts an un-reactive substrate and
causes damages such as dangling bonds and dislocations, resulting in a substrate more
reactive towards etchant species (electron or photon can also induce surface activation).
o Inhibitor-driven anisotropy: ion bombardment removes the inhibitor layer from horizontal
surface (sidewall remain passivated), and reaction with neutrals proceed on these un-
passivated surfaces only.
One may think that ions won’t help much due to its much lower density than radicals. But ion
has sticking coefficient S1 (every ion bombardment counts), whereas radicals S0.01 (most
radicals hit the surface and left without doing anything).

Inhibitor-driven
Energy-driven anisotropy
anisotropy
35
 Chapter 4 Etching

1. Introduction to etching.
2. Wet chemical etching: isotropic.
3. Anisotropic etching of crystalline Si.
4. Dry etching overview.
5. Plasma etching mechanism.
6. Types of plasma etch system.
7. Dry etching issues.
8. Dry etching method for various films.
9. Deep Si etching (can etch through a wafer).

NE 343: Microfabrication and Thin Film Technology

Instructor: Bo Cui, ECE, University of Waterloo, bcui@uwaterloo.ca 36
Textbook: Silicon VLSI Technology by Plummer, Deal, Griffin
 Sputter etching and ion milling
Sputter etching: (etch inside plasma)
• The etch mechanism is purely physical and ion
energies are greater than 500 eV.
• Very similar in principle to sputter deposition, but
now the target becomes substrate to etch.
• Poor selectivity (2:1 or 1:1), very anisotropic.
• Sputtering rate depends on sputter yields which can
be a function of incident angle.
• Problems include faceting (sputter yield is a
function of incident angle), trenching, re-deposition,
charging and ion path distortion, radiation damage.
• Not popular, etches too slow, though reactive gas
(CF4, CCl4, O2) can be added to slightly improve
selectivity and etching rate.

Figure 10-8 Problems associated with

sputter etching (or any etching that has
a high degree of physical/ionic
etching): a) trenching at bottom of
sidewalls; b) redeposition of
photoresist and other materials; c)
charging and ion path distortion. 37
 Ion milling or ion beam etching (IBE)
Used to call ion milling, seems now more called as ion beam etching.

• Physical milling when using heavy inert gases (Ar).

• Plasma is used to generate ion beam (Ar+), which is extracted and accelerated to etch
the sample. (i.e. sample outside of plasma)
• Thus the ion density (determined by plasma source) and ion energy (determined by
DC acceleration voltage – bias by applied DC voltage, not by RF bias as in high density
plasma etching system), can be controlled independently.
• Low pressure 10-4Torr (>1 order lower than RIE), so large mean free path and less
energy loss due to collision. (such low pressure cannot sustain a plasma, so ion
milling is not plasma etching)
• High acceleration voltage (>1kV), leading to mill rate 10-30nm/min.
• Despite the high voltage and low pressure, such a rate is still < typical RIE rate where
chemical etching dominates.
• Used whenever RIE is not possible (due to the lack of volatile species formation).
Usually employed to etch Cu, Ni, Au, superconducting materials containing metals…

38
Ion beam etching system:
triode configuration
Electron beam is first generated
by hot filament.
Ions are generated by electron
bombardment, then accelerated
to bombard the substrate.

RF plasma ion beam source

(here reactive gas added, so it is
actually a CAIBE, see next slide)

DC plasma ion beam source

Electrons sprayed to sample to
neutralize ions.
Tilted sample to greatly increase
milling rate.
But then shadowing may become
a problem when milling high
aspect ratio structures. 39
 Chemically assisted ion beam etching system
• Adding reactive gases (CF4, CCl4, O2, Cl2) to increase etching rate and selectivity.
• Usually physical etching still dominates, no need of volatile etch product.
• But for some special situations, like gas phase (no plasma) XeF 2 etching of Si assisted by ion
bombardment, chemical etching dominates with very high etching rate. But there the etch
product SiF4 is volatile.
• Here it is chemically assisted physical etching, different from RIE that is a kind of physically
assisted chemical etching.
• CAIBE: chemically assisted ion beam etching,
inert Ar ion, neutral reactive gas is introduced
into lower chamber, so not ionized, though
some may be ionized due to backflow into
plasma region or bombardment by Ar ion.
• RIBE: reactive IBE, reactive gases are
introduced into plasma region together with
Ar gas, so they are ionized. RIEB is virtually
the only example where the same ion has
both a physical (ion impact) and chemical
(reactive etching) component.

40
 Summary: plasma etching mechanism
• Chemical etching: free radicals react with material to be removed. E.g. plasma etching at high
pressure close to 1Torr.
• Physical etching or sputtering: ionic species, accelerated by the built-in electric field (self-bias),
bombard the materials to be removed. E.g. sputter cleaning using Ar gas in sputter deposition
system.
• Ion enhanced etching: combined chemical and physical process, higher material removal rate
than each process alone. E.g. reactive ion etching (RIE), which is the most widely used dry
etching technique.

High density plasma

Sputter etching
Plasma etching

Physical
Reactive Ion

Process
Ion milling &
Wet etching
Chemical
Process

etching
etching
Pressure
Energy
(power)
Selectivity

Anisotropicity 41
Figure 10-19