Method of smoothing a trench sidewall after a deep trench silicon etch process
AssigneeApplied Materials, Inc.
InventorsMichael Rattner, Jeffrey D. Chinn
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Abstract
Disclosed herein is a method of smoothing a trench sidewall after a deep trench silicon etch process which minimizes sidewall scalloping present after the silicon trench etch. The method comprises exposing the silicon trench sidewall to a plasma generated from a fluorine-containing gas, at a process chamber pressure within the range of about 1 mTorr to about 30 mTorr, for a time period within the range of about 10 seconds to about 600 seconds. A substrate bias voltage within the range of about −10 V to about −40 V is applied during the performance of the post-etch treatment method of the invention.
Claims12
A post-etch treatment method for smoothing a scalloped silicon trench sidewall after a deep trench etch process, wherein said method comprises exposing said silicon trench sidewall to a plasma generated from a fluorine-containing gas, at a process chamber pressure within the range of about 1 mTorr to about 30 mTorr, for a time period within the range of about 10 seconds to about 600 seconds, and wherein a substrate bias voltage within the range of about −10 V to about −40 V is applied during the performance of said post-etch treatment method.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.