Pressure-Dependent Etching Mechanism and Induced Dielectric Properties Variation of BZN Thin Films in SF6/Ar Plasma

Abstract

Reactive ion etching was used to study bismuth zinc niobate (BZN) thin films etching in SF6/Ar plasma as a function of pressure. The etch rate increases as the pressure increases from 1 to 20 mTorr and decreases when the pressure exceeds 20 mTorr. The film surfaces were analyzed to determine the etching mechanism using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Pressure is found to have an effect on etch reaction and non-volatile etch by-products removal through different ion density and energy, thus resulting in varying compositions, element chemical binding states on the film surface. Dielectric properties of the film, modified by SF6/Ar plasma, show an obvious variation with pressure. The permittivity shows a slight decrease in the range of 1–20 mTorr but a sharp decrease at 30 mTorr. Instead, the dielectric loss variation exhibits an opposite trend.