A parameter study was conducted with the Plasmatherm. This is intended to help users tune there recipes based on the desired profile of the etch. Click on each parameter to view photos. A detailed spreadsheet with measurement will be published here soon.

Table 1: Parameters measured. Standard RIE Parameters

RF Power (W)	550, 650, 750, 850, 950
Pressure (mTorr)	16, 20, 22, 24
Ar Flow (sccm)	10, 20, 30, 40, 50
O₂ Flow (sccm)	0, 10, 20
SF₆ Flow (sccm)	50, 60, 70, 80, 90

RF Power (W)

As the RF power is increased, the etch depth/rate increases then decreases, peaking at 750W, except for 8 $μ$ m which peaks at 850W.

The initial increase in etch depth/rate is due to the higher energy of the reactive ions, which leads for more efficient material removal. The lower etch performance at higher power can be explain by several different phenomenon include; Ion deflection and scattering, aspect ratio-dependent etching, and charge buildup and deflections.

It seems that 750W may be a more efficient parameter for the standard process as it maximizes the etch rate.

Additional data analysis is performed on the 20 $LaTeX: \mu$ m line, generating plots that illustrate the relationships between power and etch depth, undercut, photoresist depth, and selectivity (PR depth/ Etch Depth).

20 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (4000 Magnification)

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550 W

20um 4kx-2.jpg

650 W

20um 4kx-1.jpg

750 W

20um 4kx.jpg

850 W

20um 4kx-4.jpg

950 W

20um 4kx-3.jpg

10 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (4000 Magnification)

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550 W

10um 4kx.jpg

650 W

10um 4kx-1.jpg

750 W

10um 4kx-2.jpg

850 W

10um 4kx-3.jpg

950 W

10um 4kx-4.jpg

8 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (6000 Magnification)

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550 W

8um 6kx-2cb8cc4b-2ed2-426b-b64b-85b46f972fac.jpg

650 W

8um 6kx-177cfebb-1222-4417-aef1-b93ade958ea3.jpg

750 W

8um 6kx-d96d5454-a2ed-4559-bedf-1215ccdbcb45.jpg

850 W

8um 6kx-6.jpg

950 W

8um 6kx-5.jpg

7 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (6000 Magnification)

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550 W

7um 6kx.jpg

650 W

7um 6kx-1.jpg

750 W

7um 6kx-2.jpg

850 W

7um 6kx-4.jpg

950 W (8000 Magnification)

7um 8kx.jpg

5 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (10,000 Magnification)

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550 W

5um 10kx.jpg

650 W

5um 10kx-1.jpg

750 W

5um 10kx-2.jpg

850 W

5um 10kx-3.jpg

950 W (8000 Magnification)

5um 8kx.jpg

Pressure (mTorr)

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Additional data analysis is performed on the 20 $LaTeX: \mu$ m line, generating plots that illustrate the relationships between Pressure and etch depth, undercut, photoresist depth, and selectivity (PR depth/ Etch Depth).

20 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (4000 Magnification)

*Add comments

16 mTorr

20um 4kx-5.jpg

20 mTorr

20um 4kx-6.jpg

22 mTorr

20um 4kx-4.jpg

24 mTorr

20um 4kx-7.jpg

10 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (4000 Magnification)

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16 mTorr

10um 4kx-5.jpg

20 mTorr

10um 4kx-6.jpg

22 mTorr

10um 4kx-3.jpg

24 mTorr

10um 4kx-7.jpg

8 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (6000 Magnification)

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16 mTorr

8um 6kx-0c587f1c-9139-4d4a-8b37-c37b00cd8022.jpg

20 mTorr

8um 6kx-ea3f3708-0cef-4d05-b40c-bf33f81d623f.jpg

22 mTorr

8um 6kx-6.jpg

24 mTorr

8um 6kx-273c1652-1996-407e-975f-0e9d883d2a1e.jpg

7 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (6000 Magnification)

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16 mTorr

7um 6kx-5.jpg

20 mTorr

7um 6kx-6.jpg

22 mTorr

7um 6kx-4.jpg

24 mTorr

7um 6kx-7.jpg

5 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (10,000 Magnification)

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16 mTorr

5um 10kx-4.jpg

20 mTorr

5um 10kx-5.jpg

22 mTorr

5um 10kx-3.jpg

24 mTorr

5um 10kx-6.jpg

Ar Flow (sccm)

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Additional data analysis is performed on the 20 $LaTeX: \mu$ m line, generating plots that illustrate the relationships between Argon flow and etch depth, undercut, photoresist depth, and selectivity (PR depth/ Etch Depth).

20 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (4000 Magnification)

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10 sccm

20um 4kx-ae02dbea-e575-4d30-ba99-b9de908336b7.jpg

20 sccm

20um 4kx-4.jpg

30 sccm

20um 4kx-c02d5aec-5efb-4905-84ed-2b6d7b108465.jpg

40 sccm

20um 4kx-fe398827-ac41-402d-a469-e644dc45c472.jpg

50 sccm

20um 4kx-10d9d3f1-5f96-4395-a69d-40e0cd938e23.jpg

10 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (4000 Magnification)

*Add comments

10 sccm

10um 4kx-9cbbbfc2-6a2f-4c47-8f27-371c5a178bd7.jpg

20 sccm

10um 4kx-3.jpg

30 sccm

10um 4kx-6fce181f-4438-40a6-913f-bf9e39ebaf37.jpg

40 sccm

10um 4kx-7a8ff4fc-2e17-47a6-974b-f5636b5f1e65.jpg

50 sccm

10um 4kx-cda71779-cf75-44c4-b86a-5d63839195db.jpg

8 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (6000 Magnification)

*Add comments

10 sccm

8um 6kx-a789b937-ce6a-4f62-b7e2-148cbe0f7b8b.jpg

20 sccm

8um 6kx-6.jpg

30 sccm

8um 6kx-61cbc05f-933e-459c-a94c-f821ac050f72.jpg

40 sccm

8um 6kx-be8959dc-33dd-4158-be12-a594f290c1c0.jpg

50 sccm

8um 6kx-4ea5aade-a9e5-4394-8ff9-be5694a3b95a.jpg

7 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (6000 Magnification)

*Add comments

10 sccm

7um 6kx-a34b5653-8af4-444b-85d7-e0ec91d4023a.jpg

20 sccm

7um 6kx-4.jpg

30 sccm

7um 6kx-7bbe9947-841b-41fc-ab09-86d6f1b65c09.jpg

40 sccm

7um 6kx-16843e0b-461c-4978-bce4-80c4b60a7112.jpg

50 sccm

7um 6kx-975b135f-9071-4f6e-96fc-a37cdf231d7c.jpg

5 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (10,000 Magnification)

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10 sccm

5um 10kx-7.jpg

20 sccm

5um 10kx-3.jpg

30 sccm

5um 10kx-a22898f2-88a4-4a21-8bc4-a2a16bbc13e0.jpg

40 sccm

5um 10kx-690fcfcf-cf41-4bc4-b76f-872f211e16a6.jpg

50 sccm

5um 10kx-88dafea7-d522-4d9c-93c0-9632e1e15441.jpg

O₂ Flow (sccm)

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Additional data analysis is performed on the 20 $LaTeX: \mu$ m line, generating plots that illustrate the relationships between Oxygen flow and etch depth, undercut, photoresist depth, and selectivity (PR depth/ Etch Depth).

20 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (4000 Magnification)

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0 sccm

20um 4kx-4.jpg

10 sccm

20um 4kx-83fb1156-c5d1-43ef-baa8-2fa67c5a13e9.jpg

20 sccm

20um 4kx-80cc7845-c2c9-4a5f-ab0c-6802c4ae02ec.jpg

10 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (4000 Magnification)

*Add comments

0 sccm

10um 4kx-3.jpg

10 sccm

10um 4kx-a16ed99a-83bf-49fc-a2f2-f39cc554b330.jpg

20 sccm

10um 4kx-70bfc84c-4cf6-4dc7-b740-f6f478931334.jpg

8 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (6000 Magnification)

*Add comments

0 sccm

8um 6kx-6.jpg

10 sccm

8um 6kx-dc6a3d12-bcc9-4513-8e7f-28aa7c3aa3ca.jpg

20 sccm

8um 6kx-c3656ccd-282c-40e1-a9a5-a0166d6b18ff.jpg

7 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (6000 Magnification)

*Add comments

0 sccm

7um 6kx-4.jpg

10 sccm

7um 6kx-af9d3f2c-4aeb-4e39-a3eb-dcd4288119da.jpg

20 sccm

7um 6kx-d4e44996-764f-45ba-87e4-fb40255b61c9.jpg

5 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (10,000 Magnification)

*Add comments

0 sccm

5um 10kx-3.jpg

10 sccm

5um 10kx-ddc3f78e-1a14-4ec4-9c45-1d3d58bfb557.jpg

20 sccm

5um 10kx-7e8085ab-9cc4-4a08-b18a-c5227875cbbc.jpg

SF₆ (sccm)

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Additional data analysis is performed on the 20 $LaTeX: \mu$ m line, generating plots that illustrate the relationships between SF₆flow and etch depth, undercut, photoresist depth, and selectivity (PR depth/ Etch Depth).

20 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (4000 Magnification)

*Add comments

50 sccm

20um 4kx-a815661e-ca1b-4763-aa09-3fa675934399.jpg

60 sccm

20um 4kx-42b06a39-c211-4de3-992c-772429d47dcc.jpg

70 sccm

20um 4kx-c0810e79-a84d-4584-a274-457a3e792b0b.jpg

80 sccm

20um 4kx-b174db22-ade1-49b9-bacf-db00a82bfde3.jpg

90 sccm

20um 4kx-8cb573de-b4ef-4b69-bb1e-f902b326e8b3.jpg

10 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (4000 Magnification)

*Add comments

50 sccm

10um 4kx-acf7c959-8bff-447f-89d5-49c4d76bae06.jpg

60 sccm

10um 4kx-e09db200-b209-46dd-9678-d13b8752fcbe.jpg

70 sccm

10um 4kx-137d9028-aceb-4b39-960a-583f852632e9.jpg

80 sccm

10um 4kx-a2383c36-18ff-4536-8170-fd25123ced71.jpg

90 sccm

10um 4kx-c1be45a6-c61a-47b1-be18-41e28bda9feb.jpg

8 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (6000 Magnification)

*Add comments

50 sccm

8um 6kx-ca1ddcd4-6c88-44df-b1ef-8f6233cdae7f.jpg

60 sccm

8um 6kx-25db1f65-7122-4de4-a88d-c9eb88d6e59f.jpg

70 sccm

8um 6kx-f76f5ca1-b1e8-45bb-92d9-5daf6feac710.jpg

80 sccm

8um 6kx-60bf7396-f38d-4aa6-ab4e-75e0491f114c.jpg

90 sccm

8um 6kx-7abf0487-025b-4f2b-af9b-13ba5de51a1c.jpg

7 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (6000 Magnification)

*Add comments

50 sccm

7um 6kx-d560e9fd-d7ed-4d09-a74b-6ee8814ecadf.jpg

60 sccm

7um 6kx-5aca452e-3711-4b6a-97c2-4d6dc2b57648.jpg

70 sccm

7um 6kx-56166273-d709-4968-9b75-e3f0659f986d.jpg

80 sccm

7um 6kx-c1a8b127-6151-4850-8578-ef58ce0b77ab.jpg

90 sccm

7um 6kx-7ff2a54f-ea3a-4554-b54f-eef2ffa41c39.jpg

5 $LaTeX: \mu$ m (10,000 Magnification)

*Add comments

50 sccm

5um 10kx-692ddefe-fb52-4e6d-802d-73b536b1b9a4.jpg

60 sccm

5um 10kx-c970e835-ad72-437a-94ff-9eeb7e387c52.jpg

70 sccm

5um 10kx-990974da-f206-44ca-aef5-39d0e848d217.jpg

80 sccm

5um 10kx-d148b7c1-9496-417d-80ca-d0d2833e9dbd.jpg

90 sccm

5um 10kx-8a2ea18c-3096-4933-9964-20d9ce96b644.jpg