AVS 50th International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Thursday Sessions
       Session PS2-ThM

Paper PS2-ThM8
In-situ Real-time Monitoring of Profile Evolution During Plasma Etching

Thursday, November 6, 2003, 10:40 am, Room 315

Session: Low k Dielectric Etch
Presenter: H. Gerung, University of New Mexico
Authors: H. Gerung, University of New Mexico
C.J. Brinker, University of New Mexico
S.R.J. Brueck, University of New Mexico
S.M. Han, University of New Mexico
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We have employed attenuated total reflection Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIRS) to monitor profile evolution during etching of mesoporous low-k SiO@sub 2@ film in-situ and real time. The porous SiO@sub 2@ films, stacked with anti reflective coating (ARC) and patterned photoresist, are etched in an inductively coupled plasma reactor, using CHF@sub 3@ and Ar. During etching, the integrated IR absorbance by Si-O-Si asymmetric stretching modes near 1080 cm@sup -1@ decreases, and the rate of decrease in integrated Si-O-Si absorbance translates to the SiO@sub 2@ removal rate. When corrected for the exponentially decaying evanescent electric field, the removal rate helps monitor the evolution of the etch profile in real time. We have extended this technique to etching Ge. The results from Ge etching will be also discussed.