Abstract
Reactive ion etching (RIE) of copper in a cold-wall reactor is described. When the rf discharge power is sufficiently high, the etch surface temperature becomes sufficient for reaction product removal due to plasma-wafer heat exchange. The etching process can easily be controlled by monitoring the line intensity in the CuCl emission spectrum. For example, the 435.8-nm line allows operators to fix the instant of etch completion and to keep track of the process
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ohmi, T., Saito, T., and Shibata, T., Room Temperature Copper Metallization for Ultralarge-Scale Integrated Circuits by a Low Kinetic Energy Particle Process,Appl. Phys. Lett., 1988, vol. 52, no. 26, pp. 2236–2238.
Li Jian, Mayer, J.W., and Colgan, E.G., Oxidation and Protection in Copper and Copper Alloy Thin Films,J. Appl. Phys., 1991, vol. 70, no. 5, pp. 2820–2827.
Hymes, S., Murarka, S.P., and Chepard, C, Passivation of Copper by Silicide Formation in Dilute Silane,J. Appl. Phys., 1992, vol. 71, no. 9, pp. 4623–4625.
Igarashi, Y., Yamanobe, T., and Ito, T., High-Reliability Copper Interconnects through Dry Etching Process,Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 1995, vol. 34, part 1, no. 2B, pp. 1012–1015.
Holloway, K. and Fryer, P.M., Tantalum as a Diffusion Barrier Between Copper and Silicon,Appl. Phys. Lett., 1990, vol. 57, no. 17, pp. 1736–1738.
Ohno, K., Sato, M., and Arita, Y, High Rate Reactive Ion Etching of Copper Films in SiCl4, N2, Cl2, and NH3 Mixture,Extended Abstracts of the 22nd Int. Conf. on Solid State Devices and Materials, Sendai, 1990, pp. 215-218.
Howard, B.J. and Steinbruchei, Ch., Reactive Ion Etching of Copper with BC13 and SiCl4: Plasma Diagnostics and Patterning,J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A, 1994, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 1259–1264.
Efremov, A.M. and Svettsov, V.I., Spectral Investigation of Copper Film Etching in a Chlorine Plasma,Tezisy dokladov IX mezhdunarodnogo simpoziuma “Tonkie plenki v elektronike ” (Proc. IX Int. Symp. “Thin Films in Electronics”), Ples, 1998, pp. 142-151.
Demidov, F.P. and Ammosova, L.M., Sensors for Online Control of Film Deposition and Etching,Elektron. Prom-st, 1991, no. 7, pp. 20-26.
Magunov, A.N., Lukin, O.V., Mal’shakov, V.G., and Popov, A.A., Thermal Balance of Silicon and Quartz Wafers in a Plasmochemical Reactor,Tr. Fiz.-Tekhnol. Inst. Akad Nauk, 1997, vol. 12, pp. 99–120.
Magunov, A.N. and Lukin, O.V., Optical Temperature Measurements of Semiconductor Crystals in the 300-800 K Range: An Overview,Mikroelektronika, 1996, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 97–111.
Pearse, R.W.B. and Gaydon, A.G.,The Identification of Molecular Spectra, London: Chapman and Hall, 1941. Translated under the titleOtozhdestvlenie molekulyarnykh spektrov, Moscow: Inostrannaya Literatura, 1949.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mal’shakov, V.G., Berdnikov, A.E., Popov, A.A. et al. Reactive ion etching of copper in an RF N2 + BCl3 + Cl2 Plasma. Russ Microelectron 29, 235–240 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02773271
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02773271


