Method of plasma etching of silicon carbide
First Claim
1. A method of plasma etching a layer of silicon carbide with selectivity to underlying and/or overlying dielectric material, the method comprising:
- positioning a semiconductor substrate in a reactor chamber, the substrate including a layer of silicon carbide and an underlying and/or overlying layer of dielectric material;
supplying an etchant gas to the chamber, the etchant gas comprising at least one hydrogen-containing fluorocarbon gas, an oxygen containing gas, and optionally a carrier gas; and
energizing the etchant gas into a plasma state and etching openings in the silicon carbide layer, the silicon carbide layer being etched at a faster rate than the dielectric material.
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Abstract
The invention provides a process for plasma etching silicon carbide with selectivity to an overlapping and/or underlying dielectric layer of material. The etching gas includes a hydrogen-containing fluorocarbon gas such as CH3F, an oxygen-containing gas such as O2 and an optional carrier gas such as Ar. The dielectric material can comprise silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, silicon oxynitride or various low-k dielectric materials including organic low-k materials. In order to achieve a desired selectivity to such dielectric materials, the plasma etch gas chemistry is selected to achieve a desired etch rate of the silicon carbide while etching the dielectric material at a slower rate. The process can be used to selectively etch a hydrogenated silicon carbide etch stop layer or silicon carbide substrates.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of plasma etching a layer of silicon carbide with selectivity to underlying and/or overlying dielectric material, the method comprising:
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positioning a semiconductor substrate in a reactor chamber, the substrate including a layer of silicon carbide and an underlying and/or overlying layer of dielectric material;
supplying an etchant gas to the chamber, the etchant gas comprising at least one hydrogen-containing fluorocarbon gas, an oxygen containing gas, and optionally a carrier gas; and
energizing the etchant gas into a plasma state and etching openings in the silicon carbide layer, the silicon carbide layer being etched at a faster rate than the dielectric material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification