Selective cyclic dry etching process of dielectric materials using plasma modification
AssigneeASM IP Holding B.V.
InventorsRene Henricus Jozef Vervuurt, Nobuyoshi Kobayashi, Takayoshi Tsutsumi, Masaru Hori
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Abstract
In some embodiments, a selective cyclic (optionally dry) etching of a first surface of a substrate relative to a second surface of the substrate in a reaction chamber by chemical atomic layer etching comprises forming a modification layer using a first plasma and etching the modification layer. The first surface comprises carbon and/or nitride and the second surface does not comprise carbon and/or nitride.
Claims31
A method of selectively etching a film on a first surface of a substrate relative to a second surface of the substrate in a reaction chamber by chemical atomic layer etching, the method comprising one or more cyclic etch processes comprising:
- forming a modification layer using a first plasma;
- and
- etching the modification layer with a halogen containing gas,
- wherein both the first surface and the second surface are exposed to the halogen containing gas.
A selective and uniform cyclic dry etch process of carbon containing materials comprising:
- providing a first surface that comprises carbon and/or nitride;
- providing a second surface that lacks carbon and/or lacks nitride;
- treating both the first and second surface with at least one of:
- a) a plasma assisted process with ions and/or radicals to form a plasma modified layer, or
- b) a thermal reaction with reactant gas to form a plasma modified layer;
- and
- treating both the first and the second surface with at least one of:
- a) plasma etching of the modification layer by fluorine containing plasma, or
- b) thermal etching of the modification layer by fluorine containing gas.
An atomic layer etching process for selectively etching film on a first surface of a substrate relative to a second surface of the substrate in a reaction chamber comprising:
- providing a substrate comprising a first surface and a second surface, wherein the first surface comprises carbon and the second surface does not comprise carbon;
- conducting at least one etch cycle comprising alternately and sequentially contacting at least a portion of both the first surface and the second surface with a modification plasma comprising helium, hydrogen or nitrogen, wherein the modification plasma forms a modification layer on the first surface;
- and
- applying an etching reactant to both the first surface and the second surface, wherein the etching reactant comprises a fluorine containing gas, wherein the etching reactant uniformly and selectively etches the modification layer on the first surface relative to the second surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.