Plasma-assisted etching of metal oxides
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsChansyun David YANG, Keh-Jeng Chang, Chan-Lon Yang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure describes methods and systems for plasma-assisted etching of a metal oxide. The method includes modifying a surface of the metal oxide with a first gas, removing a top portion of the metal oxide by a ligand exchange reaction, and cleaning the surface of the metal oxide with a second gas.
Claims22
A method for plasma-assisted etching of a metal oxide, the method comprising:
- distributing a plasma of a first gas across a surface of the metal oxide with a first plate in a chamber;
- filtering radicals of the first gas from the plasma of the first gas with a second plate in the chamber;
- modifying the surface of the metal oxide with the radicals of the first gas;
- removing a top portion of the metal oxide by a ligand exchange reaction;
- and
- cleaning the surface of the metal oxide with a plasma of a second gas.
11-20. (canceled)
A method for plasma-assisted etching of a metal oxide on a substrate, the method comprising:
- delivering a first plasma to a surface of the metal oxide on the substrate, wherein the substrate is held on a holder in a chamber;
- distributing the first plasma across the surface of the metal oxide with a first plate in the chamber;
- filtering radicals from the first plasma with a second plate in the chamber;
- modifying the surface of the metal oxide with the radicals from the first plasma;
- generating a vapor from a precursor in a vaporizer connected to the chamber;
- delivering the vapor of the precursor to the modified surface of the metal oxide;
- removing a top portion of the metal oxide by the vapor via a ligand exchange reaction;
- delivering a second plasma to the surface of the metal oxide;
- and
- cleaning the surface of the metal oxide with the second plasma.
27-30. (canceled)
A method for plasma-assisted etching of a metal oxide on a substrate, the method comprising:
- modifying a surface of the metal oxide with a first plasma of a first gas, wherein the substrate is held on a first holder in a first chamber;
- generating a vapor from a precursor in a vaporizer connected to the chamber;
- delivering the vapor of the precursor to the modified surface of the metal oxide;
- generating radicals from a second plasma of a second gas with a plate in the chamber;
- removing a top portion of the metal oxide by the vapor and the radicals via a ligand exchange reaction;
- and
- cleaning the surface of the metal oxide with a third plasma of a third gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.