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US 6,746,961 B2Granted
Plasma etching of dielectric layer with etch profile control
AssigneeLam Research Corporation
InventorsTuqiang Ni, Lumin Li
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Abstract
A semiconductor manufacturing process wherein high aspect ratio deep openings are plasma etched in a dielectric layer using an etchant gas which includes a fluorocarbon, a sulfur-containing gas, an oxygen-containing gas and an optional carrier gas. The etchant gas can include CxFyHz such as C4F8, SO2, O2 and Ar. The combination of the sulfur-containing gas and the oxygen-containing gas provides profile control of the deep openings.
Claims20
A method of etching openings in a dielectric layer with profile control, comprising:
- supporting a semiconductor substrate in a plasma etch reactor, the substrate including a dielectric layer;
- supplying an etchant gas to the plasma etch reactor;
- and
- etching openings in the dielectric layer by energizing the etchant gas into a plasma state, the etchant gas comprising CxFyHz wherein x≧1, y≧1 and z≧0, SO2 gas and an oxygen-containing gas, the SO2 gas and the oxygen-containing gas being added in amounts effective for profile control of the etched openings.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.