Cl2 ‐ Based Dry Etching of Doped Manganate Perovskites: PrBaCaMnO3 and LaSrMnO3

Abstract

Effective pattern transfer into PrBaCaMnO 3 and LaSrMnO 3 has been achieved using Cl 2 /Ar discharges operated under inductively coupled plasma conditions. Etch rates up to 900 Å min Ϫ1 for LaSrMnO 3 and 300 Å min Ϫ1 for PrBaCaMnO 3 were obtained, with these rates being a strong function of ion flux, ion energy, and ion-to-neutral ratio. The etching is still physically dominated under all conditions, leading to significant surface smoothing on initially rough samples. Submicron (0.35 m) features have been produced in both materials using SiN x as the mask.

Contact resistance to SrRuO3 and La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 epitaxial films

“…Chlorine (Cl 2 ) based RIE together with argon (Ar) for physical milling is a very effective etch for perovskite oxide such as LSMO. 26 To study the effect of chlorine chemistry, we used BCl 3 and Ar gas mixture with flow rates 15 and 10 sccm, respectively. ICP power was set 100 W to create dense plasma whereas RIE power was chosen 200 W with chamber pressure 20 Â 10 À3 Torr to ensure anisotropic etching with vertical sidewall profile.…”