AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Thursday Sessions
       Session NS-ThP

Paper NS-ThP15
The Effect of Relative Humidity on Atomic Force Microscopy Local Oxidation of Silicon Nitride Film for Mask Fabrication

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

Session: Nanoscale Science and Technology Poster Session
Presenter: H.F. Hsu, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Authors: H.F. Hsu, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan, R.O.C.
C.W. Lee, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Correspondent: Click to Email
Atomic force microscope (AFM) induced local oxidation on silicon nitride thin film of silicon substrate which is in contact mode is presented. This local anodic oxidation was subjected to its kinetics and mechanism in varying relative humidity. The kinetic results are observed to have a logarithmic relationship of oxide height versus voltage pulse duration [h=L@sub c@ln(t/t@sub 0@)] and an exponential decay relationship of the growth rate to oxide height [dh/dt=R@sub 0@exp(-h/L@sub c@)]. Both the onset time t@sub 0@ and the characteristic decay length L@sub c@ increase during experiments at lower relative humidity and the lateral oxidation growth rate decreases. As the result, we can fabricate the high-aspect-ratio of the oxide by controlling the ambient humidity. Due to the large etching selectivity in various etchants between Si@sub 3@N@sub 4@, SiO@sub 2@ and Si, an AFM patterned silicon nitride film mask with different size open windows can be made to fabricate nanoscale structure on silicon substrate.