Precise Depth Control of Silicon Etching Using Chlorine Atomic Layer Etching

Abstract

In this study, the atomic layer etching (ALE) of Si was carried out using Cl2 adsorption followed by Ar+ ion beam irradiation with a low energy Ar+ ion beam generated by an inductively coupled plasma ion gun. A saturated silicon etch rate due to chlorine ALE could be obtained when the Ar+ ion acceleration voltage of the ion gun was in the range of 70 to 90 V, as a result of the preferential etching of silicon chloride formed during the chlorine adsorption period by the Ar+ ions while the silicon sputter etch rate remains insignificant. This was attributed to the differences in the silicon-to-silicon and silicon-to-silicon chloride binding energies. The saturated silicon etch rate by ALE was dependent on the chlorine flow rate, i.e. the surface coverage of chlorine and the Ar+ ion irradiation time. In this experiment, a silicon etch rate of 1.36 Å/cycle, which is a (100) silicon monolayer per cycle, could be obtained by flowing more than 10 sccm chlorine gas followed by bombarding the surface by Ar+ ions with an acceleration voltage of 70 V for more than 40 seconds. Under this condition, when a 30 nm scale silicon etch profile was examined after 200 cycles, a silicon etch profile with no undercut could be obtained.