A Method to Adjust Polycrystalline Silicon Carbide Etching Rate Profile by Chlorine Trifluoride Gas

Nakagomi, Ken; Okuyama, Shogo; Habuka, Hitoshi; Takahashi, Yoshinao; Kato, Tomohisa

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.897.383

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…These results verified that the etching depth profile could be locally formed on the single crystalline 4H-silicon carbide, corresponding to the local supply of chlorine trifluoride gas from the gas distributor, similar to the polycrystalline 3C-silicon carbide wafer. 16 Thus, the local etching profile is expected to be adjusted by optimizing the gas supply design. The etching depth slope is expected to be adjusted by the distance between the pin-holes at the gas distributor.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[13][14][15][16] In this reactor, the entire etching rate profile over the 50 mm-diameter polycrystalline 3C-silicon carbide wafer depended on the concentration and flow of the chlorine trifluoride gas. Based on a numerical calculation accounting for the transport phenomena, 14,15 the relationship between the local etching rate profile and the chlorine trifluoride gas transport was determined.…”

Section: 17mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, as an extension of previous studies, [13][14][15][16] the C-face 4H-silicon carbide single-crystalline wafer was etched using the chlorine trifluoride gas. The relationship of the etching rate profile with the chlorine trifluoride gas supply was studied using a significantly deep etching condition.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For improving the removal rate by the chemical approach, chlorine trifluoride (ClF 3 ) gas [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] is expected to be useful. The chlorine trifluoride gas has been reported to quickly etch the Si-and C-faces single-crystalline 4H-silicon carbide (SiC) material at a high rate, such as 5 μm/min.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mirror Etching of Single Crystalline C-Face 4H-Silicon Carbide Wafer by Chlorine Trifluoride Gas

Okuyama¹,

Kurashima²,

Habuka³

et al. 2017

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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In order to evaluate the potential of a non-plasma dry etcher for silicon carbide, a 50-mm-diameter C-face 4H-silicon carbide wafer was etched using chlorine trifluoride gas at 500 • C. The wafer deformation was sufficiently small after the repetitive etching, even though the wafer was very thin, that is, about 160-μm thick. When the wafer surface was significantly etched, concentric-circleshaped valleys were formed at the radii corresponding to the circular-shaped arrays of pinholes at the gas distributor. Because the local pattern of the 4H-silicon carbide wafer etching rate corresponded to that of the chlorine trifluoride gas supply, the etching rate distribution was determined to be mainly governed by the chlorine trifluoride gas flow. Because the surface morphology and roughness after the etching was comparable to that of the mirror-polished wafer surface, the etcher evaluated in this study was expected to have a significant potential for mirror etching. In order to reduce the electric energy loss, power electronics 1-3 is currently playing major roles and making enormous contributions over the world. The power devices have various key positions to govern and improve the overall power consumption efficiency. They will have more functions and capabilities achieved by advancing the technologies of material production and device designs.The power devices are made of semiconductor materials, 2,3 such as silicon (Si), silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN). The silicon carbide power devices have been developed by many researchers and engineers due to their fascinating nature, such as a high dielectric breakdown voltage, for high voltage use. The silicon carbide power devices are actually installed and currently working in trains and vehicles.2,3 Because the power device demand will further increase in the future, the process of silicon carbide material production should be improved.The significantly hard and nonreactive properties of the silicon carbide very often make the device fabrication processes long and complex. When the wafer back side is thinned by mechanical or chemical mechanical polishing after the device fabrication, the thinning processes require several hours or more. The removal rate is still about 0.2 μm/min when the plasma and Pt catalyst are used for the polishing.4-10 For developing a high speed process, an alternative high speed process, such as chemical etching, is expected.For improving the removal rate by the chemical approach, chlorine trifluoride (ClF 3 ) gas 11-17 is expected to be useful. The chlorine trifluoride gas has been reported to quickly etch the Si-and C-faces single-crystalline 4H-silicon carbide (SiC) material at a high rate, such as 5 μm/min.11 The C-face 4H-silicon carbide could be etched while maintaining the mirror-polished surface. 11,17In order to realize an industrial-scale wafer etching process, the SiC single-wafer dry etcher has been designed, fabricated and evaluated. [13][14][15][16] In this reactor, the entire etching rate profile over the 50 mm-diamet...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: 17mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mirror Etching of Single Crystalline C-Face 4H-Silicon Carbide Wafer by Chlorine Trifluoride Gas

Okuyama¹,

Kurashima²,

Habuka³

et al. 2017

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.

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“…Because the silicon carbide is mechanically hard and chemically stable, the alternative process technology to improve the process productivity should be developed. For this purpose, the highly reactive gas, such as the chlorine trifluoride (ClF3) gas [2][3][4][5][6][7], is a candidate. It may improve the throughput of the large-diameter wafer processes, when the gas and heat conditions are optimized for each wafer size.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-Plasma Dry Etcher Design for 200 mm-Diameter Silicon Carbide Wafer

Kawasaki

Irikura

Habuka

et al. 2020

MSF

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For improving the productivity of the semiconductor silicon carbide power devices, a very large diameter wafer process was studied, particularly for the non-plasma wafer etching using the chlorine trifluoride gas. Taking into account the motion of heavy gas, such as the chlorine trifluoride gas having the large molecular weight, the transport phenomena in the etching reactor were evaluated and designed using the computational fluid dynamics. The simple gas distributor design for a 200-mm-diameter wafer was evaluated in detail in order to uniformly spread the etchant gas over the wide wafer surface.

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Etching Rate Profile of C-Face 4H-SiC Wafer Depending on Total Gas Flow Rate of Chlorine Trifluoride and Nitrogen

Irikura

Kawasaki

Habuka

et al. 2020

MSF

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A 50-mm diameter silicon carbide wafer thinning technique by means of a chemical reaction using a chlorine trifluoride (ClF3) gas was studied accounting for the gas distributor design and the total gas flow rate. The entire etching depth profile could become uniform with the increasing total gas flow rate at the fixed chlorine trifluoride gas concentration. A relationship between the pinhole arrangement of the gas distributor and the local etching rate profile was clarified by comparing the quick calculation and the measurement.

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A Method to Adjust Polycrystalline Silicon Carbide Etching Rate Profile by Chlorine Trifluoride Gas

Cited by 5 publications

References 4 publications

Mirror Etching of Single Crystalline C-Face 4H-Silicon Carbide Wafer by Chlorine Trifluoride Gas

Mirror Etching of Single Crystalline C-Face 4H-Silicon Carbide Wafer by Chlorine Trifluoride Gas

Non-Plasma Dry Etcher Design for 200 mm-Diameter Silicon Carbide Wafer

Etching Rate Profile of C-Face 4H-SiC Wafer Depending on Total Gas Flow Rate of Chlorine Trifluoride and Nitrogen

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