Abstract
An ion beam etching system with etching endpoint detection (EPD) capability based on optical emission spectroscopy (OES) was conceived, built, and tested. An expansion chamber was added on the right side of the etching chamber to fix the optical detector for in-situ detecting. In this system, the optical detector was mounted on a seven-shaped bracket, which was fixed by two straight guides, thus the position of the optical detector could be adjusted arbitrarily to collect the emission spectrum generated by the sample during the etching process. The signal was transmitted by optical fiber to the computer for processing, and the etching endpoint could be detected after analyzing the data. Firstly, we used simple substances (Al, Cr, Si, and Mg) to analyze the feasibility of the system and determine the best position of the optical detector. In addition, we also tested the detection limit of the system. Finally, a complex multilayer film sample with different materials was tested, and the results showed that the system could clearly detect the characteristic emission lines of different layers and had a good real-time performance and excellent endpoint detection capabilities.
Highlights
Ion beam etching (IBE) is a dry etching process developed in the 1970s [1], which is well known for its high etching accuracy and wide range of etching materials
We report a low-cost, in-situ, ion beam etching endpoint detection system based on optical emission spectroscopy and present the structure and performance test of the system
A water-cooling system was equipped for the sample stage, whichchamcould ber and the system could run for a long time; (2) the optical detector would block part of the ion beam, resulting in uneven etching; (3) the straight guide and the seven-shaped bracket in the expansion chamber could realize the three-dimensional movement of the optical detector so that it could collect the emission spectrum from any area in the sample stage
Summary
Ion beam etching (IBE) is a dry etching process developed in the 1970s [1], which is well known for its high etching accuracy and wide range of etching materials It has been widely used and has become an indispensable fabrication technology for micro/nano-electronic devices [2,3,4,5], especially in the field of GMR (giant magnetoresistance) and TMR (tunneling magnetoresistance) study, because it has no after-corrosion and oxidation problems [6,7]. We report a low-cost, in-situ, ion beam etching endpoint detection system based on optical emission spectroscopy and present the structure and performance test of the system. The experimental results show that the system has a detection limit of 1 nm and has good performance for endpoint detection of a complex thin-film structure, which can better detect the emission spectrum of devices with minor size, it is expected to become a versatile tool for endpoint detection
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