A Novel Plasma Etching Tool with RF-Biased Faraday-Shield Technology: Chamber Surface Reaction Control in the Etching of Nonvolatile Materials

Abstract

A novel electro-magnetically coupled plasma (EMCP) etching tool for nonvolatile materials has been developed. The EMCP etcher is based on inductively coupled plasma generation and has a function for controlling surface reactions by supplying RF bias to a Faraday shield which covers a ceramic discharge dome. We investigated plasma controllability and chamber surface reaction controllability of the EMCP etcher and found that the RF-biased Faraday shield effectively keeps the internal surface of the dome clean in the etching processes of nonvolatile materials. Because of this feature, the EMCP etcher can be applied to the etching processes of various nonvolatile materials such as Pt, Ru, Ir, NiFe, Au, Mo, Ta, Al2O3, HfO2, ZrO2, and indium tin oxide (ITO).