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Etching Process
Process by which material is removed from the wafer either from the silicon
substrate itself or from any film or layer of material on the wafer.
There are two major types of etching:
1.dry etching
2.wet etching
Isotropic The etching process proceeds in all directions at the same rate.
Anisotropic The etching process proceeds in only one direction
Wet etching, or etching with the use of chemicals isotropic.
Dry etching processes that employ reactive plasmas anisotropic.
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Wet etching
Wet Etching is an etching process that utilizes liquid chemicals or etchants to
remove materials from the wafer, usually in specific patterns defined by photo
resist masks on the wafer.
Materials not covered by these masks are 'etched away' by the chemicals while
those covered by the masks are left almost intact.
A basic wet etching process may be broken down into three basic steps:
1) diffusion of the etchant to the surface for removal
2) reaction between the etchant and the material being removed
3) diffusion of the reaction byproducts from the reacted surface
Wet etching station
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Wet Etching Advantage and Disadvantage
Advantages:
Low cost high reliability
High throughput and excellent selectivity in most cases with respect to both mask and
substrate materials.
Automated wet etching systems add even more advantages greater ease of use higher
reproducibility and better efficiency in the use of etchants.
Disadvantage:
Limited resolution; higher safety risks due to the direct chemical exposure of the
personnel
High cost of etchants in some cases problems related to the resist's loss of adhesion to the
substrate
Problems related to the formation of bubbles which inhibit the etching process where
they are present;
Problems related to incomplete or non-uniform etching.
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Dry Etching
Dry Etching is an etching process that does not utilize any liquid chemicals or
etchants to remove materials from the wafer, generating only volatile
byproducts in the process.
Dry etching may be accomplished by any of the following:
1) through chemical reactions that consume the material, using chemically
reactive gases or plasma;
2) physical removal of the material, usually by momentum transfer; or
3) a combination of both physical removal and chemical reactions.
Plasma etching Purely chemical dry etching technique.
physical sputtering and ion beam milling Purely physical dry etching
techniques.
Reactive ion etching dry etching that employs both physical and chemical
processes.
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Plasma Etching
Plasma etching is one type of dry etching, using plasma to produce chemically
reactive species from inert gases.
The reactive gases are then made to react with the material to be etched.
Plasma etchers come in many configurations, but a typical plasma etching
system consists of:
1) an etching chamber;
2) a pumping and pressure control system;
3) an RF power supply;
4) gas handling systems; and
5) electrodes.
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Etching Process
* High proportion of the total product use
Etch
Chambers
Cluster Tool
Configuration
Transfer
Chamber
Loadlock
Wafers
RIE Chamber
Transfer
Chamber
Gas Inlet
Exhaust
RF Power
Wafer
Polysilicon Etches
HBr *
C
2
F
6

SF
6
*
NF
3
*
O
2
Aluminum Etches
BCl
3
*
Cl
2

Diluents
Ar
He
N
2
Chemical Reactions
Silicon Etch: Si + 4 HBr SiBr
4
+ 2 H
2

Aluminum Etch: Al + 2 Cl
2
AlCl
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Process Conditions
Flow Rates: 100 to 300 sccm
Pressure: 10 to 500 mTorr
RF Power: 50 to 100 Watts
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Stripping Process
Photo resist stripping, or simply 'resist stripping', is the removal of
unwanted photo resist layers from the wafer.
Its objective is to eliminate the photo resist material from the wafer as
quickly as possible, without allowing any surface materials under the resist
to get attacked by the chemicals used.
Resist stripping can be classified into:
1) organic stripping;
2) inorganic stripping
3) dry stripping.
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Types of stripping
Organic stripping:
Organic stripping employs organic strippers, which are chemicals that break down the
structure of the resist layer.
Inorganic stripping:
Wet inorganic strippers, which are also known as oxidizing-type strippers, are used for
inorganic stripping, usually to remove photo resist from non- metallized wafers, as well
as post-baked and other hard-to-remove resists.
Inorganic strippers are solutions of sulfuric acid and an oxidant, heated to about
125degC
Dry stripping:
Dry stripping pertains to the removal of photo resist by dry etching using plasma
etching equipment.
Its advantages over wet etching with organic or inorganic strippers include better safety,
absence of metal ion contamination, decreased pollution issues, and less tendency to
attach underlying substrate layers.
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Wafer up to Stripping Process
p- epi
p+ substrate
photoresist
silicon dioxide (oxide)
p- silicon epi layer
p+ silicon substrate
silicon wafer
p+ silicon substrate
silicon wafer
p- silicon epi layer
p+ silicon substrate
p- epi
p+ substrate
field oxide
photoresist
p- epi
p+ substrate
field oxide
photoresist mask
n-well
p-channel transistor
phosphorus
(-) ions
Contact locations
n-well
p-channel transistor
p-well
n-channel transistor
p+ substrate p+ substrate
p-well
n-channel transistor
n-well
p-channel transistor
source-drain areas
gate linewidth
gate oxide
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