AVS 50th International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Tuesday Sessions
       Session PS-TuP

Paper PS-TuP6
Etching Characteristics of LNO (LaNiO@sub 3@) Thin Films Using Inductively Coupled Plasma

Tuesday, November 4, 2003, 5:30 pm, Room Hall A-C

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: J.W. Yeo, Chung-Ang University, Korea
Authors: C.I. Kim, Chung-Ang University, Korea
J.W. Yeo, Chung-Ang University, Korea
K.T. Kim, Chung-Ang University, Korea
D.P. Kim, Chung-Ang University, Korea
Correspondent: Click to Email
Among the ferroelectric thin films that have been widely investigated for ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) application, the LaNiO@sub 3@ (LNO) thin film is known to play a role to improve fatigue and imprint of ferroelectric capacitor. And LNO thin film is expected as an effective electrode for the growth of highly oriented ferroelectric thin films because it shows a pseudocubic perovskite structure (a = 3.84 Å) and an n-type metallic behavior without any doping procedure. Although, there are several advantages and Dry etching, which shows anisotropic etching properties, has become one of the critical processes for pattern transfer in ultra large scale integration, very few studies on the etch properties of LNO electrode thin films have been reported. In this study, LNO thin films were etched by BCl@sub 3@/Ar plasma with inductively coupled plasma etching system. The etch rates of LNO thin films and selectivity of LNO to SiO@sub 2@ were investigated as functions of gas mixing ratio, rf power, dc-bias voltage, pressure and gas flow. To understand the effects of etching parameters, the atoms of B, Cl and the ions of Ar were investigated in BCl@sub 3@/Ar plasma using optical emission spectroscopy and Langmuir probe. The etching byproducts were investigated with using quadruple mass spectroscopy. The heterogeneous reaction of plasma on the surface of the etched LNO was investigated with x-ray photoeletron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The etching profiles of samples have been investigated with scanning electron microscopy.