A Study of the Mechanism of Reactive Stripping of Photoresist

Abstract

Reactive strippers are now widely used in semiconductor manufacture for the removal of photoresists. This paper describes the use of track development monitoring and a Fabry-Perot interferometric method to quantitatively assess the removal of hardbaked and plasma-treated photoresist from silicon substrates. The Fabry-Perot interferometric system allows visualization of the processes which occur when the strippers are placed in contact with resist. It is evident that these stri pers do not simply dissolve the photoresist but promote removal through the generation of crazing and disruption orthe resist polymer by the production of minute bubbles at the silicon oxide-resist interface or within the bulk resist.