Spectroscopic studies of fluorescent emission in plasma etching of silicon nitride

1988/03/01 by D. Field, D. F. Klemperer, Derek F. Klemperer +1 · 1 citation
Engineering · Materials Science · #Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research #Plasma Diagnostics and Applications #Semiconductor materials and devices

paper · doi:10.1116/1.584398

openalex publication_date 1988/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Basic chemical processes involved in etching of silicon nitride with a CF4 /O2 radio frequency plasma have been investigated using optical emission spectroscopy. Spectra have been recorded in the range 2400–7050 Å and comparison has been made of the intensity of more than 60 atomic and molecular lines in the presence and absence of silicon nitride coated wafers. We identify a number of species as important etching agents including metastable F(4 P), CF2, and metastable F+ (1D,1S). Our results are consistent with the principle of spin conservation in surface reactions set out in earlier work on Si(100). Our conclusions extend and broadly confirm the results of a previous mass spectrometric study of the same system.

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