Plasma etching of Si and SiO2—The effect of oxygen additions to CF4 plasmas

In the evaluation of GaAs devices from the MMIC (Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits) program for Army applications, there was a requirement to obtain accurate linewidth measurements on the nominal 0.5 micrometer gate lengths used to fabricate these devices. Preliminary measurements indicated a significant variation (typically 10 % to 30% but could be more) in the critical dimensional measurements of the gate length, gate to source distance and gate to drain distance. Passivation introduced a margin of error, which was removed by plasma etching. Additionally, the high aspect ratio (4-5) of the thick gold (Au) conductors also introduced measurement difficulties. The final measurements were performed after the thick gold conductor was removed and only the barrier metal remained, which was approximately 250 nanometer thick platinum on GaAs substrate. The thickness was measured using the penetration voltage method. Linescan of the secondary electron signal as it scans across the gate is shown in Figure 1.

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A TEM study of the effect of oxygen on nanocavity formation and precipitation in rapid - solidified Fe-16Ni-9Cr stainless steels

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100171237 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 700-701

Author(s):

S. Wisutmethangoon ◽

T. F. Kelly ◽

J.E. Flinn

Keyword(s):

Stainless Steels ◽

High Mobility ◽

Hot Extrusion ◽

Extrusion Ratio ◽

Gas Atomization ◽

Cavity Formation ◽

Nucleation Sites ◽

Heat Treated ◽

Different Types ◽

Effect Of Oxygen

Vacancies are introduced into the crystal phase during quenching of rapid solidified materials. Cavity formation occurs because of the coalescence of the vacancies into a cluster. However, because of the high mobility of vacancies at high temperature, most of them will diffuse back into the liquid phase, and some will be lost to defects such as dislocations. Oxygen is known to stabilize cavities by decreasing the surface energy through a chemisorption process. These stabilized cavities, furthermore, act as effective nucleation sites for precipitates to form during aging. Four different types of powders with different oxygen contents were prepared by gas atomization processing. The atomized powders were then consolidated by hot extrusion at 900 °C with an extrusion ratio 10,5:1. After consolidation, specimens were heat treated at 1000 °C for 1 hr followed by water quenching. Finally, the specimens were aged at 600 °C for about 800 hrs. TEM samples were prepared from the gripends of tensile specimens of both unaged and aged alloys.

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Silicon layers grown over SiO2 by liquid phase epitaxy: Electron Microscopical study

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s042482010017596x ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 566-567

Author(s):

F. Banhart ◽

F.O. Phillipp ◽

R. Bergmann ◽

E. Czech ◽

M. Konuma ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Liquid Phase ◽

Plasma Etching ◽

Liquid Phase Epitaxy ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Microscopical Study ◽

Sample Temperature ◽

Structural Defects ◽

Si Substrates ◽

Etched Surface

Defect-free silicon layers grown on insulators (SOI) are an essential component for future three-dimensional integration of semiconductor devices. Liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) has proved to be a powerful technique to grow high quality SOI structures for devices and for basic physical research. Electron microscopy is indispensable for the development of the growth technique and reveals many interesting structural properties of these materials. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy can be applied to study growth mechanisms, structural defects, and the morphology of Si and SOI layers grown from metallic solutions of various compositions.The treatment of the Si substrates prior to the epitaxial growth described here is wet chemical etching and plasma etching with NF3 ions. At a sample temperature of 20°C the ion etched surface appeared rough (Fig. 1). Plasma etching at a sample temperature of −125°C, however, yields smooth and clean Si surfaces, and, in addition, high anisotropy (small side etching) and selectivity (low etch rate of SiO2) as shown in Fig. 2.

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