Electron microscopy
  
Loading Effect in Plasma Etching
- Integrated Circuits and Materials -
- An Online Book -
Integrated Circuits and Materials                                                                                  http://www.globalsino.com/ICsAndMaterials/        


Chapter/Index: Introduction | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | Appendix

=================================================================================

The loading effect is a phenomenon in which the etch rate change depending on Si aperture (unmasked area) ratios. As shown in Figure 4397, the loading effect, which implies that the etching rate decreases as the etchable area in the plasma increases. The chemical-reaction-based isotropic etching is limited by the amount of feed radical in the plasma. Therefore, this effect causes an anomalous CD loss of the etched patterns which is laid out on the chip.

Example of loading effect in isotropic etching

Figure 4397. Example of loading effect in isotropic etching. [1]

 

============================================

         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         
         

 

 

 

 

 

 





































































[1] Haruhiko ABE, Masahiro YONEDA, and Nobuo FUJIWARA, Developments of Plasma Etching Technology for Fabricating Semiconductor Devices, Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 47, No. 3, 2008, pp. 1435–1455.






 

 

 

 
=================================================================================