Method for surface preparation to enable uniform etching of polycrystalline materials

A method for material removal from a material surface, said material surface being comprised of a plurality of crystalline grains, said crystalline grains having at least one grain orientation relative to said material surface, the method comprising the steps of:

• a. bombarding a first particle beam of a first particle type and having a first beam energy at the material surface, the first particle beam being inclined at a first angle to a normal to said material surface, said first particle beam amorphizing a first portion of the crystalline grains, a second portion of the crystalline grains remaining un-amorphized;
• b. bombarding a second particle beam of a second particle type and having a second beam energy, the second particle beam being inclined at a second angle to said normal to said material surface, said first particle beam and said second particle beam being inclined at a third angle relative to each other, the second beam amorphizing the second portion of the crystalline grains on the material surface;
• c. said amorphized first and second portions of crystalline grains forming an amorphized layer on said material surface;
• and
• d. during or after step b), continuing the etching of said amorphized layer of said material surface.

A method of frontside editing of an integrated circuit, said method including the etching of a polycrystalline conducting feature having a surface including crystalline grains, said polycrystalline conducting feature being separated from an adjacent conducting feature by an insulating layer, said method comprising:

• a) exposing said polycrystalline conducting feature;
• b) bombarding said surface of said polycrystalline conducting feature with a first particle beam of a first particle type and having a first beam energy, the first particle beam being inclined at a first angle to a normal to said surface of said polycrystalline conducting feature, said first particle beam amorphizing a first portion of the crystalline grains, a second portion of the crystalline grains remaining un-amorphized;
• c) bombarding said surface of said polycrystalline conducting feature with a second particle beam of a second particle type and having a second beam energy, the second particle beam being inclined at a second angle to said normal to said surface of said polycrystalline conducting feature, said first particle beam and said second particle beam being inclined at a third angle relative to each other, the second beam amorphizing the second portion of the crystalline grains;
• d) during or after step c), continuing the etching of said polycrystalline conducting feature;
• and
• e) repeating steps b)-d) as needed.

A system for surface preparation to enable uniform etching of a material surface of a sample, said material surface being comprised of a plurality of crystalline grains, comprising:

• a) a sample holder for holding said sample in the path of a bombarding particle beam;
• b) a particle beam source arranged to direct a particle beam onto said sample at variable angles to a normal to said material surface of said sample;
• c) a system controller configured to control the bombardment of said sample by said particle beam;
• and
• d) a memory coupled to the controller comprising a computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program embodied therein for directing operation of the system, the computer-readable program comprising:
• instructions for controlling the particle beam source and the sample holder to direct the particle beam onto said material surface at a plurality of angles to a normal to said material surface, to prepare said material surface so as to enable uniform etching of said material surface.