IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Semiconductors Tuesday Sessions
       Session SC+SS-TuA

Paper SC+SS-TuA7
Chemically Enhanced Electron Beam Induced Micromachining of SiO@sub 2@

Tuesday, October 30, 2001, 4:00 pm, Room 122

Session: Semiconductor Nanostructures and Processing
Presenter: P.E. Russell, North Carolina State University
Authors: J.H. Wang, North Carolina State University
A.R. Guichard, North Carolina State University
D.P. Griffis, North Carolina State University
P.E. Russell, North Carolina State University
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While material removal using chemically enhanced focused ion beam micromachining is well known, utilization of electron beam induced chemistry for material removal is relatively unexploited. If practical techniques can be developed utilizing electron beam induced chemistry for material removal, issues involving the implantation or "staining" by the Ga ion beam generally used for micromachining can be avoided. In this study, the utilization of XeF@sub2@ for electron beam induced selective etching of SiO@sub 2@ is investigated. The influence of electron dose, electron beam energy and XeF@sub2@ pressure is presented. An etch rate of 10nm/sec over a square micron has been achieved at a chamber pressure of 8x10@super -6@ Torr. At low electron beam doses, m aterial is deposited (rather that etched). This deposited material and micromachined features have been characterized by AFM, SEM and EDS. These results clearly demonstrate the ability to micromachine SiO@sub 2@ using XeF@sub2@ enhanced electron beam induced etching.