Fast release process of metal structure using chemical dry etching of sacrificial Si layer

    Authors

    J. H. Ahn; W. Heo; N. E. Lee;H. J. Cho

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Thin Solid Films

    Keywords

    Chemical dry etching; Silicon; Release etching; Remote plasma; Nitric; oxide (NO); F-2 REMOTE PLASMAS; FLEXIBLE POLYIMIDE SUBSTRATE; SU-8 PHOTORESIST MASK; MICROSCALE METALLIZATION; SURFACE-ROUGHNESS; RATE ENHANCEMENT; ADDITIVE; GASES; APERTURE SIZE; SILICON; FABRICATION; Materials Science, Multidisciplinary; Materials Science, Coatings &; Films; Physics, Applied; Physics, Condensed Matter

    Abstract

    An ultra-fast removal process of a silicon sacrificial layer for the selective release of a metal structure on a Si substrate was studied, which uses a chemical dry etching method. The chemical dry etching of a Si layer was performed in an NF(3) remote plasma with the direct injection of additive nitric oxide (NO) gas. When the NO gas was injected into the chamber into which F radicals were supplied from a remote plasma source using NF(3) input gas, the silicon layer was removed selectively and the metal structure could be released easily. It was found that the etch rate on the sidewall (up to congruent to 18.7 mu m/min for an opening width of 100 mu m) and the bottom (up to congruent to 24.5 mu m/min for an opening width of 100 mu m) depends on the NO/(NO + Ar) gas flow ratio, time duration, and opening width. The developed dry etching process could be used to release a Ni structure with near infinite selectivity in a very short time. The process is well suited for fabricating various devices which require a suspended structure, such as in radio-frequency microelectromechanical system switches, tunable capacitors, high-Q suspended inductors and suspended-gate metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Thin Solid Films

    Volume

    519

    Issue/Number

    20

    Publication Date

    1-1-2011

    Document Type

    Article; Proceedings Paper

    Language

    English

    First Page

    6769

    Last Page

    6772

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000294790900029

    ISSN

    0040-6090

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