| AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology Division | Thursday Sessions |
| Session PS-ThP |
| Session: | Plasma Science and Technology Poster Session |
| Presenter: | Jong-Chang Woo, Chung-Ang University, Republic of Korea |
| Authors: | J.C. Woo, Chung-Ang University, Republic of Korea C.I. Kim, Chung-Ang University, Republic of Korea |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The Indium zinc oxide (IZO) is a wide band gap transparent conducting oxide that has provoked a great deal of interest recently, due to its many potential applications. It allows the fabrication of devices with a low operating voltage, and the design of such devices will lead the way to the next generation of display technologies based on transparent and flexible devices. IZO thin films have attracted a great deal of attention because of their excellent optical transmission, high conductivity, chemical stability, thermal stability and low compressive stress. Therefore, amongst the various patterning techniques used for IZO thin films, plasma etching is preferred, because it allows for high resolution pattern transfer for optoelectronic device structures. Recently, although the growth characteristics of IZO thin films have been well optimized, the development of an efficient pattern transfer process remains to be achieved. Among the various patterning techniques, the dry etching process has several advantages over the conventional wet etching process, including high resolution and easy process automation. Moreover, there have only been a few studies relating to IZO dry etching using the high density plasma sources favored by modern microelectronic technology. As a result, the influence of the process parameters on the IZO etch rate has not been explored in detail and the IZO etch mechanism is not quite clear.
In this work, we investigated the etching characteristics of IZO thin film using a high density plasma (HDP) system. The etching characteristics of the IZO thin film were investigated in the terms of the selectivity of IZO over SiO2 as a function of the etch chemistry. The chemical states on the etched surface were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Field emission Auger electron spectroscopy (FE-AES) was used for the elemental analysis of the etched surfaces.