AVS 47th International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session PS-WeP

Paper PS-WeP24
Morphological Study of a New Copper Dry Etching Process

Wednesday, October 4, 2000, 11:00 am, Room Exhibit Hall C & D

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: S. Lee, Texas A&M University
Authors: Y. Kuo, Texas A&M University
S. Lee, Texas A&M University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Copper is the most desirable interconnect material for the high density VLSIC. Conventionally, it has been very difficult to etch copper using a parallel-plate plasma reactor under a mild condition, e.g., room temperature, low power density, etc., because reaction products, i.e., copper compounds, have low vapor pressures. Recently, the authors have published a new copper etching method based on a novel copper-plasma reaction.@footnote 1@ Instead of removing the reaction product during the plasma process, the copper film was consumed anisotropically and the copper compound was accumulated on the substrate surface. A solution was used to selectively dissolve the copper compound after the plasma process. The result shows that a high copper etch rate, e.g., > 3000 angstrom/min, could be achieved. The copper profile was adjustable with the plasma condition. In this paper, we are going to discuss the reaction mechanism of this new method under a large number of experimental conditions, such as feed gas, temperature, pressure, power, etc. The morphology change of the copper layer will be shown with SEM pictures. The physical and chemical analytical results of copper compounds will also be revealed. These results are critical to the understanding of this new copper dry etching process. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@Y. Kuo and S. Lee, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 39, L188-L190, 2000.