Formation of nanoscale structures by inductively coupled plasma etching

Colin C. Welch, Deirdre L. Olynick, Zuwei Liu, Anders Holmberg, Christophe Peroz, Alex P.G. Robinson, M. David Henry, Axel Scherer, Thomas Mollenhauer, Vince Genova, Doris K.T. Ng

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

This paper will review the top down technique of ICP etching for the formation of nanometer scale structures. The increased difficulties of nanoscale etching will be described. However it will be shown and discussed that inductively coupled plasma (ICP) technology is well able to cope with the higher end of the nanoscale: features from 100nm down to about 40nm are relatively easy with current ICP technology. It is the ability of ICP to operate at low pressure yet with high plasma density and low (controllable) DC bias that helps greatly compared to simple reactive ion etching (RIE) and, though continual feature size reduction is increasingly challenging, improvements to ICP technology as well as improvements in masking are enabling sub-10nm features to be reached. Nanoscale ICP etching results will be illustrated in a range of materials and technologies. Techniques to facilitate etching (such as the use of cryogenic temperatures) and techniques to improve the mask performance will be described and illustrated.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationInternational Conference Micro- and Nano-Electronics 2012
PublisherSPIE
ISBN (Print)9780819494870
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Jan 2013
EventInternational Conference on Micro- and Nanoelectronics 2012, ICMNE 2012 - Zvenigorod, Russian Federation
Duration: 1 Oct 20125 Oct 2012

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume8700
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Conference

ConferenceInternational Conference on Micro- and Nanoelectronics 2012, ICMNE 2012
Country/TerritoryRussian Federation
CityZvenigorod
Period1/10/125/10/12

Keywords

  • Cryogenic
  • Etching
  • ICP
  • Nanoscale
  • Nanotechnology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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