ICP-RIE: III-V, Metal & Silicon Etcher

III-V, Metal & Si Etcher Instrument Type Etching Techniques pseudo-Bosch & Cryogenic Si Etch Compound Semiconductor Etching Staff Manager Nathan S. Lee Staff Email nathslee@caltech.edu Staff Phone 626-395-1319 Reserve time on FBS Request training via FBS User Dashboard Lab Location B235 Steele Lab Phone 626-395-1532 Manufacturer Oxford Instruments Model Plasmalab System 100

Description

The III-V, Metal & Silicon inductively-coupled plasma reactive-ion etcher (ICP-RIE) is an Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology Plasmalab System 100 ICP-RIE 380 system that is optimized for the etching of compound semiconductors, metals, and silicon. In addition to a wide range of gases for etching a variety of III-V materials and metals, this system is configured for highly-selective ICP-RIE of silicon via the pseudo-Bosch process, allowing silicon etching with SF₆ and C₄F₈ gases as well as cryogenic silicon etching with SF₆ and O₂ over a temperature range of -140 to 300 °C. This system supports wafer sizes up to 6 inches.

Applications

• InP grating etch
• GaAs photonics device etch
• pseudo-Bosch of silicon
• Metals etch
• Cryogenic etch of silicon (available upon request)

Allowed Material in Etcher

• Si, Si_xN_y, SiO₂, Ge, InP, GaAs, Al, Mo, Nb, W, Ti
• PMMA/ZEP/SPR/AZ/maN resists, SiOx/Al₂O₃, Cr hard masks
• Metal in etch stack

Etching Gas List

• SF₆
• C₄F₈
• O₂
• Ar
• Cl₂
• SiCl₄
• CH₄
• H₂
• HBr

Resources

SOPs & Troubleshooting

• General Use SOP
• Etcher toxic gas handling SOP
• Power Up Oxford ICP-RIE SOP
• Gas Status Board SOP

Process Documents

• Process Standards
• Aluminum Etch via Chlorine/Methane/Hydrogen (KNI Recipe)
• AlGaN/GaN Etch with Photoresist Mask
• InP Etch
• InP/ InGaAsP Laser Facet ICP Etching
• GaAs Via Hole Etch
• Selective GaAs Etch
• Silicon Waveguide Etch
• Silicon Nitride etch
• Hard Mask Oxide Etch
• Cryo-Si Etch
• Etch chamber cleaning recipes
• Comparison of etch rates using different sample-fixing oils
• Comparison of Pseudo-Bosch ICP-RIE Etch of SiO2-SiNx
• Al2O3 Etch in Oxford ICP and Plasmatherm RIE

Review Articles

• Guidelines for Etching Silicon MEMS Structures
• Etch rates for MEMS Processing - Part I
• Etch Rates for MEMS Processing - Part II
• Dry Etching of Electronic Oxides, Polymers, and Semiconductors
• Alumina etch masks for fabrication of high-aspect-ratio silicon micropillars and nanopillars
• David Henry's thesis on dry etching in the KNI's tools

Manufacturer Manuals

• Oxford III-V Metal Etcher System Manual (login to LabRunr required)
• Edwards QDP 80 dry vacuum pump Manual

Specifications

Manufacturer Specifications

• Manufacturer Data Sheet

System Features

• Universal base console that houses the electronic sub systems, control units, pneumatics, and turbomolecular pump
• PC 2000 Operating system
• ICP process chamber with 200 mm pumping port, view port and end-point-detection ports for optical emission spectrometer and laser interferometer
• Variable height 240 mm Cryo RIE electrode
• Parameter ramping software (Not Bosch)
• 100-mTorr, temperature-stabilized capacitance manometer for process control with an active penning gauge for base pressure measurement
• 200 mm pumping port is fitted with a 200 mm variable gate valve for chamber isolation and process pressure control
• Twelve line gas pod with three non-toxic and six toxic digital mass-flow-controlled gas lines
• Alcatel 1300 l/s MAGLEV turbo pump
• Single-wafer automatic insertion load lock with soft pump option

System Specifications

• Chamber wall heating 80 °C
• Cryo table range -140 to 400 °C
• ICP 380 mm remote high-density plasma source with 5 kW RF generator and automatic matching unit close-coupled to the source
• Substrate bias control by 30 / 300 W RIE source
• Helium back-side wafer cooling