Wet etching studies of silicon nitride thin films deposited by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

    Authors

    K. B. Sundaram; R. E. Sah; H. Baumann; K. Balachandran;R. M. Todi

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Microelectron. Eng.

    Keywords

    silicon nitride films; wet etching; ECR-PECVD; SINX; OXYNITRIDE; MASK; Engineering, Electrical & Electronic; Nanoscience & Nanotechnology; Optics; Physics, Applied

    Abstract

    Silicon nitride films of various compositions have been deposited on silicon substrate by electron cyclotron resonance plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (ECR-PECVD) technique from mixtures of Ar, N-2 and SiH4, as precursors. Film composition and refractive index as a function of deposition parameters like gas flow ratio and pressure were studied. Wet etching studies were conducted using diluted phosphoric acid and buffered oxide etch (BOE) solutions of various concentrations. The etching studies using phosphoric acid were conducted in the temperature range of 70-90 degreesC. For BOE the temperature range was 25-55 degreesC. The etch rate with BOE solution is much higher than with phosphoric acid. The results indicate that the mechanism of etching with phosphoric acid is different from that with BOE solution. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Microelectronic Engineering

    Volume

    70

    Issue/Number

    1

    Publication Date

    1-1-2003

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    109

    Last Page

    114

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000185984900015

    ISSN

    0167-9317

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