No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
Etch rates of heavily doped silicon films (n- and p-type) and undoped polysilicon film were studied during plasma etching and also during reactive ion etching in a CF4/O2 plasma. The etch rate of undoped Si was lower than the n+ Si etch rate, but higher than the p+ Si etch rate, when the RF inductive heating by the eddy current was minimized by using thermal backing to the water-cooled electrode. The thermal activation energy for spontaneous chemical etching was measured to be 0.10 eV, independent of the doping characteristics. This doping effect may be explained by the opposite polarity of the space charge present in the depletion layer of n+ Si and p+ Si during reactive plasma etching.