Method for anisotropic etching conductive film

An etching method comprising the steps of:

• forming a conductive fill on a substrate;
• placing in a chamber the substrate on which the conductive film is formed;
• obtaining a vacuum state in the chamber;
• jetting out halogen fluoride to produce a molecular beam of the halogen fluoride in the chamber which is in the vacuum state;
• and
• irradiating the molecular beam of the halogen fluoride in a direction substantially perpendicular to the substrate to anisotropically etch the conductive film,
• wherein the molecular beam of the halogen fluoride is excited by RF.

An etching method comprising the steps of:

• producing a molecular beam of halogen fluoride in a chamber;
• and
• irradiating the molecular beam of halogen fluoride in a direction substantially perpendicular to a substrate on which a conductive film is formed to give priority to etching of the conductive film in a vertical direction, so that the conductive film is anisotropically-etched without producing plasma,
• wherein the molecular beam of the halogen fluoride is excited by RF.

A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device comprising the steps of:

• preparing a semiconductor layer;
• forming a gate insulating film on the semiconductor layer;
• forming a gate electrode on said gate insulating film, said gate electrode having a pair of side faces;
• performing a first ion introduction into first portions of said semiconductor layer with said gate electrode used as a first mask to form a first pair of impurity regions;
• forming a conductive film over said semiconductor layer and said gate electrode;
• performing an anisotropic etching of said conductive film to form a pair of side wall spacers on the side faces of said gate electrode;
• and
• performing a second ion introduction into second portions of said semiconductor layer with said gate electrode and said side wall spacers used as a second mask to form a second pair of impurity regions,
• wherein said anisotropic etching is performed by directing a molecular beam of halogen fluoride toward said conductive film in a direction perpendicular to said semiconductor layer.