Dry etching of transparent electrodes in a low pressure plasma reactor
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorsJohn P. Holland, Alex T. Demos
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Abstract
A method for dry etching an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer disposed above a substrate in a low pressure plasma reactor is disclosed. The method includes a step of placing a substrate having the ITO layer into the low pressure plasma reactor, a step of introducing an etchant gas into the low pressure plasma reactor; a step of striking a plasma from the etchant gas in the low pressure plasma reactor; and a step of etching the ITO layer with the plasma.
Claims48
A method for dry etching an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer disposed above a substrate, said method comprising:
- placing said substrate having said ITO layer into a low pressure plasma reactor;
- introducing an etchant gas into said low pressure plasma reactor;
- striking a plasma from said etchant gas in said low pressure plasma reactor;
- and
- etching said ITO layer with said plasma with a pressure below about 100 milliTorr within said low pressure plasma reactor.
A method for dry etching a glass substrate having an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer disposed thereon, the method comprising:
- placing said glass substrate with said ITO layer into a low pressure plasma reactor;
- introducing an etchant source gas into said low pressure plasma reactor;
- striking a plasma in said low pressure plasma reactor with said etchant source gas;
- and
- etching said ITO layer with said plasma with a pressure below about 100 milliTorr within said low pressure plasma reactor.
A method for fabricating an electronic device from a substrate comprising a silicon nitride layer disposed above said substrate, and a tin oxide-containing layer disposed above said silicon nitride layer, the method comprising:
- placing said substrate with said tin oxide-containing electrode layer and said silicon nitride layer into a low pressure, inductively coupled plasma reactor;
- introducing an etchant source gas into said low pressure, inductively coupled plasma reactor;
- striking a plasma in said low pressure, inductively coupled plasma reactor with said etchant source gas;
- and etching said tin oxide-containing transparent electrode layer with said plasma.
A method for dry etching an indium tin oxide (ITO) layer disposed above a substrate, said method comprising:
- placing said substrate having said ITO layer into a low pressure plasma reactor;
- introducing an etchant gas into said low pressure plasma reactor;
- striking a plasma from said etchant gas in said low pressure plasma reactor;
- and
- etching said ITO layer with said plasma under a chamber pressure of between about 3 and about 15 milliTorr.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.