<title>Optical Methods For End-Point Detection In Plasma Etching</title>

Abstract

Plasma etching has become an important technology in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The importance of this technology will increase as the minimum geometry features continue to decrease to the submicron region. Process monitoring is a very desirable feature in maintaining the precise control that is required of plasma etching for VLSI circuits. This paper describes two optical methods of process monitoring and end point detection for plasma etching. Examples are presented for emission spectroscopy, and an optical reflection method. A direct comparison of these methods as end point detection monitors is also made.© (1981) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.