Magnetic fields are applied to inductively coupled plasma (ICP) to achieve high plasma densities using electromagnets. If the magnetic fields are set up such that the magnitude of magnetic flux density on the substrate decreases with both radial and axial distances from the substrate's center (here after referred to as M-ICP-A), the plasma density increases by 237% compared with that for ICP although the non-uniformity of the plasma density for M-ICP-A (11.1%) is higher than that for ICP (10.9%). As the rate of decrease in the magnitude of magnetic flux density on the substrate increases both radially and axially, the non-uniformity in the plasma density increases further. The increase in the non-uniformity for M-ICP-A was confirmed to arise from the flute instability. To suppress the flute instability, we arranged the magnitude of magnetic flux density on the substrate to increase with increasing distance from the substrate center both radially and axially (here after referred to as M-ICP-V). In this configuration, plasma fluctuations were not observed, hence the plasma density non-uniformity was lowered to 8.1%, although the measured plasma density was higher than that for M-ICP-A. The oxide etch-rate non-uniformity in M-ICP-V (2.5%) was also lower than that for ICP (5.2%) or that for M-ICP-A (21.4%).
Reactive ion etching lag (RIE lag) characteristics of a high aspect ratio contact hole in a magnetized inductively coupled plasma (M-ICP) etcher were investigated. The dependence of RIE lag on various process parameters, such as neutral gas pressure, magnetic flux density, bias power, bias frequency, and source power were investigated. It was confirmed that RIE lag could be reduced by properly adjusting these variables. Furthermore, the application of a magnetic field to the ICP etcher was helpful to increase the oxide etch rate and oxide-to-amorphous carbon layer selectivity.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.