A study on the Cl 2 /C 2 H 4 /Ar plasma etching of ITO using inductively coupled plasma

Abstract

In this study, the indium tin oxide (ITO) was etched by an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etcher using Cl 2 /C 2 H 4 /Ar as the etching gases. The etch rates were studied as a function of RF power, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source power, working pressure and gas mixing ratio. We found that the RF Power plays a dominant role in the elevation of the etch rates, which indicates that the ITO etching in this study is a physical mechanism dominated etching.The state of the photoresist (PR) was observed after each experiment. As expected, the high power, which generally leads to a high etch rate, would distort the PR mask, resulting in a bad etched profile of the sample. Through research, we got a relatively high etch rate (~ 200nm/min) with the shape of PR mask remain undistorted. The profile, which includes the morphology of the film sidewall and surface after the etching process, was sensitive to the gas mixing ratio. We adjusted the gas mixing ratio, and observed the profile using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), then optimal morphology was get as the Cl 2 /C 2 H 4 /Ar at the value of 30sccm/7sccm/50sccm.

Multiscale Fabrication Process Optimization of DFB Cavities for Organic Laser Diodes

“…However, it lacks selectivity. Further investigation led to the identification of the optimal ITO/photoresist etching selectivity using He/Ar [28,29]. Figure 3 shows the roughness of the etched ITO in the active area and that of the unetched ITO part, which is Rq = 4.6 nm (Ra = 3.8 nm) and Rq = 5.5 nm (Ra = 4.4 nm), respectively.…”

Cyclic etching of tin-doped indium oxide using hydrogen-induced modified layer

“…3,4) The problems inherent in this ITO etching method, however, are its low etch rate and low selectivity against hard-mask materials. 5,6) To solve these problems, herein we investigated the effect of the hydrogen-induced modified layer for cyclic, multistep thin-layer etching. One of the advantages of cyclic etching is the possibility of adjusting the ion energy in each step; thus, highly selective etching can be expected.…”