Radio Frequency Ion Source for Reactive Ion Beam Etching

已经开发了多种干法蚀刻工艺用于本发明。 高速高密度集成半导体的制造 电路. 亚微米特征尺寸的最新要求 对现有技术提出了很高的要求， 离子蚀刻和惰性离子束蚀刻。 反应离子束刻蚀 （里贝）最近已被证明提供相对于 这些技术通过促进具有高精度的快速蚀刻， 亚微米图案清晰度。 然而，可用的离子束源 设计中结合了可容易地 被里贝工艺中使用的气体损坏。 这一结果在短 离子源的寿命，从而极大地限制了实际应用 里贝。 本提案将试图通过以下方式解决这一问题： 开发一种廉价的射频离子源， 对反应性气体及其产物不敏感。 一个 实验，20-30厘米，无磁场，射频离子源系统将 可以构造成包括冷阴极放电点火器。 等离子体产生实验将用氧和碳进行 在高达14 MHz的RF频率下测量四氯化碳气体。 离子发射 将在以下电流密度下测量和优化均匀性： 大约1 mA/cm。

A variety of dry etching processes have been developed for use in the manufacture of high speed, high density, integrated semiconductor circuits. The recent requirements for submicron feature dimensions have placed stressing demands on existing technologies such as reactive ion etching and inert ion beam etching. Reactive ion beam etching (RIBE) has recently been demonstrated to offer advantages relative to these technologies by facilitating rapid etching with highly precise, submicron pattern definition. However, available ion beam source designs incorporate thermionic electron emitters which are easily damaged by the gases used in RIBE processing. This results in short ion source lifetime, thereby greatly limiting the practical application RIBE. This proposal will attempt to overcome this problem by developing an inexpensive radio frequency ion source which is expected to be insensitive to reactive gases and their products. An experimental, 20-30 cm, magnetic-field-free, RF ion source system will be constructed which incorporates a cold cathode discharge igniter. Plasma generation experiments will be performed with oxygen and carbon tetrachloride gases at RF frequencies up to 14 MHz. Ion emission uniformity will be measured and optimized at current density of approximtely 1 mA/cm .