Concepedia

Publication | Closed Access

Radiation Damage of SiO<sub>2</sub> Surface Induced by Vacuum Ultraviolet Photons of High-Density Plasma

94

Citations

0

References

1994

Year

Abstract

The formation of a surface-damaged layer of gate SiO 2 induced by exposure to plasma for gate etching led to the increase in etch rate of SiO 2 during HF wet treatment. The effects of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons from various gas plasmas generated by an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma system and a helicon plasma system were evaluated. It was found that the depth of the damaged layer depends on the energy and penetration depth of VUV radiation. The damaged layer grew exponentially with distance from the surface and was extremely disordered, making it more susceptible to the HF etchant.