| AVS 66th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology Division | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session PS+EM-TuA |
| Session: | Advanced BEOL/Interconnect Etching and Advanced Memory and Patterning |
| Presenter: | Luxherta Buzi, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center |
| Authors: | L. Buzi, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center M.P. Sagianis, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center S.U. Engelmann, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Monitoring vacuum ultraviolet (UV/VUV) emission in plasma systems is challenging as it requires specialized diagnostic systems or sensors to be compatible with reactive ion etch (RIE) tooling. This study is mapping different reactor configurations with various levels of UV emission and its effect on a known set of polymers.
Photon-induced modifications on polymers can help decouple ion and photon effects on materials therefore, the impact of inductively coupled and microwave plasma configurations on etch rates and chemical properties of photoresists were investigated. Poly(methyl methacrylate) and Poly(4-hydroxystyrene)-based photoresists were deposited on Si wafers and exposed to argon (Ar) and nitrogen (N2) plasmas which generate different levels of UV irradiation. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) were used to analyze the polymer composition and molecular structure and the surface roughness was analyzed with an atomic force microscope (AFM).
FTIR and XPS confirmed that N2 plasma effects on chemical modifications were more pronounced on the Poly(methyl methacrylate). Roughness and etch rate was significantly higher for Poly(methyl methacrylate) compared to Poly(4-hydroxystyrene)-based photoresists. Detailed elemental and molecular structure analysis of polymers showed relatively higher damage caused from the inductively coupled plasma, which is ultimately correlated to a higher UV emission.