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Kinetics of Reactive Ion Etching of Polymers in an Oxygen Plasma: The Importance of Direct Reactive Ion Etching

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2011

Sandra W. Graham  and
Christoph SteinbrüChel
Sandra W. Graham
Affiliation:
Materials Engineering Department and Center for Integrated Electronics Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY 12180
Christoph SteinbrüChel
Affiliation:
Materials Engineering Department and Center for Integrated Electronics Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY 12180
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Abstract

The etching of polymer films in oxygen-based plasmas has been studied between 5 and 100 mTorr in a reactive ion etch reactor using Langmuir probe and optical actinometry measurements. Results for the etch yield (the number of carbon atoms removed per incident ion) are analyzed in terms of a surface-chemical model for ion-enhanced etching proposed by Joubert et al. (J. Appl. Phys. 65, 5096 (1989)). A proper description of the results requires that this model be modified by including a term due to direct reactive ion etching and physical sputtering. The contribution by direct reactive ion etching to the overall etching turns out to be significant under all conditions and even dominant at the lowest pressures. The modified model should be applicable to the etching of polymers in other types of reactors, especially highplasma- density reactors. The relationship between these results and the anisotropic patterning of polymer films is also discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 334: Symposium W – Gas-Phase and Surface Chemistry in Electronic Materials Processing , 1993 , 433
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1994

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