AVS 52nd International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Monday Sessions
       Session PS-MoP

Paper PS-MoP24
Surface Etching Mechanism of Bi@sub 4-x@La@sub x@Ti@sub 3@O@sub 12@ Thin Films using Quadrupole Mass Spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

Monday, October 31, 2005, 5:00 pm, Room Exhibit Hall C&D

Session: Plasma Science and Technology Poster Session
Presenter: J.G. Kim, Chungang University, Korea
Authors: J.G. Kim, Chungang University, Korea
G.H. Kim, Chungang University, Korea
K.T. Kim, Chungang University, Korea
C.I. Kim, Chungang University, Korea
Correspondent: Click to Email
Ferroelectric thin films are employed for ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAMs). FeRAMs offer non-volatility, a lower voltage operation and larger write cycle numbers. (Bi@sub 4-x@La@sub x@)Ti@sub 3@O@sub 12@ (BLT) thin films was proposed as a promising ferroelectric material that does not exhibit the polarization fatigue, does have bigger remanent polarization value than that of SrBi@sub 2@Ta@sub 2@O@sub 9@. Accordingly, for high density FeRAMs, the etching mechanism of BLT thin films must be understood by investigation of both chemical and physical reactions between plasma species and BLT thin films. In this paper, the etching properties of BLT thin films in inductively coupled Ar/Cl@sub 2@ plasma was investigated with various gas mixing ratio. For investigation of chemical reaction with ions and radicals, in-situ monitoring using quadrupole mass spectroscopy (QMS) with 250µm orifice was performed. After etching process, etched BLT thin film surface was analyzed with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), since etching byproducts of BLT thin films has non-volatile species and re-deposited its surface. One could explain how to react the ions and radicals on the surface of BLT thin films to combine the QMS scanning data and the analyzed data of XPS spectrum.