The dry etching of CoZrNb and CoTb magnetic thin films was carried out using Cl 2 and C 2 F 6 etch gases in an high density plasma. These new magnetic materials exhibited the etching characteristic of monotonous decrease in etch rate with increasing gas concentration. The etch rates of CoZrNb and CoTb films were faster in Cl 2 gas than in C 2 F 6 gas. The etch rates of CoZrNb and CoTb films were in the range of 30 ~ 60 nm/min for Cl 2 gas while in the case of C 2 F 6 gas, CoZrNb and CoTb films showed the etch rate of less than 20 nm/min. The etch profiles of CoZrNb and CoTb films exhibited clean without any etch residues but the etch slopes were shallow. As the concentration of Cl 2 gas increases, the etch slope became slanted. At the etch conditions used in this study, it is thought that the concentration of 20 ~ 40% Cl 2 /Ar gas is optimum to give fast etching and clean profiles.
Inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching of CoFeSiB magnetic thin films was studied in a Cl 2 /O 2 /Ar gas mix. The etch rate, etch selectivity and etch profile of this magnetic film were examined on varying gas concentration, coil rf power, gas pressure and dc-bias voltage. As the Cl 2 gas increased, the etch rate monotonously decreased and etch residues decreased but etch slope was slanted. The use of the TiN hard mask gave rise to high selectivity of CoFeSiB to the TiN mask due to large decrease in etch rate of TiN in Cl 2 /O 2 /Ar gas mix. The addition of O 2 into the gas mix led to the anisotropic etching of CoFeSiB films without the etch residues.
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