ALUMINUM NITRIDE AS A MASKING MATERIAL FOR THE PLASMA

ETCHING OF SILICON CARBIDE STRUCTURES

Debbie G. Senesky and Albert P. Pisano
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC)
University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA

dsenesky@berkeley.edu
ABSTRACT
In this paper is detailed a technique for the plasma
etching of silicon carbide (SiC) utilizing aluminum
nitride (AlN) as a masking material. The fabrication
technique enables the use of non-metallic etch masks
to etch SiC which can aid in preventing
micromasking defects on the etch surface and
degradation in the health of plasma etch tools. This
is the first report of this fabrication process.
Through the experimental characterization of a high
density inductively coupled plasma etch tool
operated with SF6/O2 chemistries, an etch recipe that
yields a SiC etch rate of 0.4 m/min, a selectivity of
16:1 (SiC/AlN), and features with a sidewall angle
of approximately 10o was developed. In addition,
scanning electron microscopy images revealed that
the etch recipe yields smooth etch surfaces that are
free of micromasking defects. Further investigations
of these preliminary results could lead to
advancements in the manufacturability of SiC for the
development of harsh environment sensing
technology and high-power electronics.

INTRODUCTION
Silicon carbide (SiC) is a wide bandgap
(2.4 to 3.0 eV) semiconductor material that has
stable mechanical, electrical and chemical properties
at elevated temperatures [1]. SiC sensor [2] and
integrated circuit (IC) [3] operation at temperatures
as high as 600oC have recently been demonstrated.
These compelling results support the use of SiC as a
material platform for sensing in harsh environments.
Systems that can benefit from harsh environment
sensing technology are geothermal reservoirs,
automotive engines, aircraft engines and industrial
gas turbines. In addition to sensing technology, SiC
is being utilized in the design of high-power
electronics used in electric and hybrid-electric
vehicles as well as light emitting diodes (LEDs) for
energy efficient lighting [4, 5]. Although major
advancements have been made in the manufacturing
of SiC wafers [6], epitaxial films [7] and
polycrystalline films [8], there is still a demand for

Figure 1: Table of possible by-products formed by

etching SiC and AlN in SF6/O2 chemistries [12].
high throughput etching techniques to realize
patterned, high-aspect ratio features.
Many studies have demonstrated the plasma
etching of SiC in fluorinated chemistries (SF6/O2)
and metal masks (e.g. nickel) are often utilized due
to the ability to obtain high etch selectivities [9, 10].
However, many plasma etch systems cannot tolerate
the contamination caused by metal etching as a
degradation in the health of internal components and
electrical shorting occurs. In addition, during high
rate etching, micromasking often occurs causing
undesirable roughening of the etch surface. As a
result, recipes with HBr/Cl2 etch chemistries have
been developed to enable the use of nonmetallic,
SiO2 etch masks [11]. However, low etch rates
(0.02 m/min) were observed with high selectivities
(20:1 SiC/SiO2) and low selectivites (3:1 SiC/SiO2)
were observed with high etch rates (0.25 m/min).
This trade-off between selectivity and etch rate could
be improved with alternative masking materials that
can withstand the etch chemistries.
In this work, aluminum nitride (AlN) is
investigated as an alternative etch mask for SiC in
fluorinated plasma chemistries. AlN is a dielectric
material that can be anisotropically patterned with
plasma etching in chlorinated chemistries [12]. A
table detailing possible etch products of SiC and AlN
in SF6/O2 chemistries is shown in Figure 1 [12]. The
high boiling points of the etch products of AlN in
SF6/O2 suggests that AlN is a compatible etch mask
and will etch much slower than SiC (i.e. high

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of the fabrication

process used to create samples for the etch study
utilizing AlN as a masking material for etching
SiC in SF6/O2 etch chemistries.

Figure 3: Microscope image of a patterned AlN

etch mask on top of SiC used in the etch study.
selectivity). This paper presents the recent results of
using AlN as the etch mask for SiC which could lead
to technology that advances the manufacturability of
SiC. To our knowledge, this is the first report of this
processing technique.

EXPERIMENTAL
The fabrication process used in this investigation is
shown in Figure 2. For this experiment, a 4H-SiC
substrate (Cree Inc. supplier) was used as the etch
material. The experiments we performed using
1 cm X 1 cm dies due to the high cost of SiC
substrates. After the singulation procedure, the dies
were
stripped
of
organics
in
piranha
(H2O2:H2SO4, 1:5), rinsed in deionized water, rinsed
in methanol and dehydrated on a hot plate (90oC).
The AlN masking films (0.5 to 1.0 m thick) were
deposited onto SiC substrates with a reactive
sputtering technique (Tegal AMS) that utilizes a
pocket wafer to enable die-level deposition. In order
to pattern the AlN mask a silicon dioxide (SiO2) was
deposited as a masking layer and was
lithographically patterned with plasma etching in
Research Inc.s Lam 2 system. To expose the

Figure 4: Plot of the SiC etch rate versus the

percentage of O2 in SF6 for plasma etching of SiC.

Figure 5: Plot of the etch rate and selectivity

(SiC/AlN) versus the chamber pressure for plasma
etching SiC in SF6/O2 chemistries.
underlying SiC substrate, the AlN masking film was
patterned with a chlorine-based plasma etch recipe
with Research Inc.s Lam 3 system.
Upon
completion of the AlN etch, the SiO2 thin film was
removed from the sample with a wet etch in
hydrofluoric acid (49% HF). A microscope image of
the patterned AlN thin film on a SiC substrate is
shown in Figure 3 and pattern transfer of
approximately 2.5 m wide comb fingers was
obtained. A high density, inductively coupled
plasma etch tool (Applied Materials Centura-DPS)
was used to perform the micromachining of the SiC
substrates. A baseline recipe with a pressure of 75
mTorr, coil power of 1800 W, bias power of 30 W
and a total flow rate of 250 sccm was utilized for this
investigation.

RESULTS
The samples described in the previous section were
used to investigate the etch rate and selectivity when
using AlN masks and SF6/O2 plasmas to pattern SiC.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to
obtain the etch depth and film thickness before and

substrates utilizing AlN etch masks and a plasma

etch recipe composed of SF6/O2 chemistries have
been reported. An experimental procedure to obtain
a SiC etch rate of approximately 0.4 m/min and a
selectivity of 16:1 (SiC/AlN) was developed for a
high density, inductively coupled plasma etch tool.
In addition, SEM images revealed that the etch
surface was free of micromasking defects commonly
found when etching with metal masks. Although the
etch rates and selectivies obtained in this work were
lower than results reported with metal masks, this
technique utilizes non-metallic etch masks which
could improve the long term health of etch systems.
It should be noted that further characterization of the
etch system (effect of substrate bias and coil power)
and experiments to obtain deep etch depths
(> 50 m) are in progress.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Figure 6: SEM images of the etch profiles of

etching SiC substrates utilizing AlN etch masks
and SF6/O2 etch chemistries.
after the etch procedure. This data was used to
calculate the etch rate of the AlN thin film and SiC
substrate for various etch conditions. The effect of
O2 concentration in SF6 on the SiC etch rate is
shown in Figure 4. An increase in the etch rate is
observed at O2 concentration of 20%. This result
agrees with previous reports of increased SiC etch
rates with the addition of O2 in SF6 caused by an
enhancement in fluorine radical generation [13]. An
additional experiment utilizing 20% O2 in SF6 was
performed and the chamber pressure was varied
from 5 mTorr to 75 mTorr. The results of this
experiment are shown in Figure 5. At a pressure of
35 mTorr an etch rate of 0.4 m/min and a
selectivity of 16:1 (SiC/AlN) were obtained. These
results overcome the trade-off in etch rate and
selectivity observed when etching SiC with HBr/Cl2
and SiO2 etch masks [11]. At higher pressures, both
the etch rate and the selectivity begin to decrease
possibly due to a high concentration of neutrals
inhibiting the etch surface. The etch profile for a
pressure of 35 mTorr is shown in Figure 6; a
sidewall angle of approximately 10o is observed and
the etch surface is smooth and free of micromasking
defects.

CONCLUSIONS
Preliminary results of pattering features in SiC

This research is supported by the Defense Advanced

Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under grant
number NBCH1050002. The authors would like to
thank Dr. Muthu B. J. Wijesundara of the Northern
California Nanotechnology Center (University of
California, Davis) for his guidance and technical
discussions.

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