AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Electronic Materials and Processing Thursday Sessions
       Session EM-ThP

Paper EM-ThP5
Etching Characteristics of ZnO Thin Films using by BCl@sub3@/Ar Inductively Coupled Plasma

Thursday, November 16, 2006, 5:30 pm, Room 3rd Floor Lobby

Session: Electronic Materials and Processing Poster Session
Presenter: J.C. Woo, Chung-Ang University, Korea
Authors: J.C. Woo, Chung-Ang University, Korea
C.M. Kang, Chung-Ang University, Korea
J.S. Kim, Chung-Ang University, Korea
G.H. Kim, Chung-Ang University, Korea
K.T. Kim, Chung-Ang University, Korea
C.I. Kim, Chung-Ang University, Korea
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The specific electrical, optical and acoustic properties of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) are important for semiconductor process which has many various applications. Piezoelectric Zinc Oxide (ZnO) film has been widely used for transducers, bulk and surface acoustic- wave resonators, and acousto-optic devices. Also, it has advantages relative to GaN because of its availability in bulk, single-crystal form, and its larger exciton binding energy (~60 meV, cf. ~25 meV for GaN). Research and development of ZnO have been rapidly accelerated to improve materials for the last decades. But, etch properties of ZnO have not established yet. In this study, we investigated etch characteristics of dry etching of the ZnO thin films in the inductively coupled plasma etch system with (BCl@sub 3@/Ar) gas mixture. The etching characteristics of ZnO thin films were investigated in terms of etch rates and selectivity as a function of (BCl@sub 3@/Ar) gas mixing ratio, rf power, dc bias voltage and chamber pressure. The plasmas were characterized by optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and Langmuir probe analysis. The chemical states on the etched surface were investigated with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the etching profile.