IP Library Granted Patent US 7,749,914
Granted Patent B2
US 7,749,914 · App. 10/960,538 · Granted Jul 6, 2010

Plasma etching method

Assignees: Tokyo Electron Limited; Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,749,914
App. No.
10/960,538
Granted
Jul 6, 2010
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present invention is a plasma etching method including: an arranging step of arranging a pair of electrodes oppositely in a chamber and making one of the electrodes support a substrate to be processed in such a manner that the substrate is arranged between the electrodes, the substrate having an organic-material film; and an etching step of applying a high-frequency electric power to at least one of the electrodes to form a high-frequency electric field between the pair of the electrodes, supplying a process gas into the chamber to form a plasma of the process gas by means of the electric field, and plasma-etching the organic-material film of the substrate by means of the plasma partway in order to form a groove having a flat bottom. A frequency of the high-frequency electric power applied to the at least one of the electrodes is 50 to 150 MHz in the etching step.

Claims (17)

1. A plasma etching method comprising

an arranging step of arranging a pair of electrodes oppositely in a chamber and making one of the electrodes support a substrate to be processed in such a manner that the substrate is between the electrodes, the substrate having an organic-material film, and

an etching step of applying a first high-frequency electric power and a second high-frequency electric power to the electrode made to support the substrate to form a high-frequency electric field between the pair of electrodes, of supplying a process gas into the chamber to form a plasma of the process gas by means of the electric field, and of plasma-etching the organic-material film of the substrate by means of the plasma partway in order to form a groove having a flat bottom with a width not less than 0.5 μm,

wherein, in the etching step,

the frequency of the first high-frequency electric power is 50 MHz to 150 MHz,

the frequency of the second high-frequency electric power is 500 kHz to 27 MHz,

the first and second frequencies are applied concurrently in order to achieve high etching rates,

a pressure in the chamber is 53 to 133 Pa,

a self-bias electric voltage of the electrode supporting the substrate to be processed is not higher than 600 V, and

a residence time of the process gas in the chamber is 70 to 180 msec,

to achieve high plasma density, low self-bias voltage, uniform plasma and inhibition of micro-trenching.

2. A plasma etching method according to claim 1 , wherein

the process gas comprises at least one selected from an N 2 gas, an H 2 gas, an O 2 gas, a CO gas, an NH 3 gas, a C x H y gas (x, y are natural numbers) and a rare gas.

3. A plasma etching method according to claim 1 , wherein the organic-material film includes O, C and H.

4. A plasma etching method according to claim 1 , wherein the organic-material film includes Si, O, C and H.

5. A plasma etching method according to claim 1 , wherein the organic-material film has a low dielectric constant.

6. A plasma etching method according to claim 1 , wherein a distance between the pair of electrodes is shorter than 50 mm.

Assignments (3)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 28, 2017
From: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
To: TOSHIBA MEMORY CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 043727/0167 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 8, 2004
From: HONDA, MASANOBU; NAGASEKI, KAZUYA; HAYASHI, HISATAKA
To: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
Reel/Frame 015867/0347 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 8, 2004
From: HONDA, MASANOBU; NAGASEKI, KAZUYA; HAYASHI, HISATAKA
To: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED; KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
Reel/Frame 016093/0717 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20050082256A1 · Apr 21, 2005