Selective Dry Etching of HfO2 in CF4 and Cl2/HBr-Based Chemistries

Abstract

We investigated HfO2 etching characteristics in conventional Si gate etching chemistries, namely, CF4 and Cl2/HBr/O2-based chemistries. We obtained an adequate etch rate of 2.0 nm/min for both chemistries and a selectivity of 1.9 over SiO2 for Cl2/HBr/O2-based chemistry. We examined the etch rate dependence on source power, bias power, O2 flow rate, and Cl2 flow rate in the Cl2/HBr/O2 chemistry. It was clarified that a physical component is dominant in HfO2 etching in this chemistry. The possibilities of achieving a higher HfO2/SiO2 selectivity and of controlling the anisotropic/isotropic component in HfO2 patterning were also discussed. Moreover, it was clarified that the surface portion of the damaged layer created by the dry-etching step can be removed by a subsequent wet etching. Based on these results, the sub-100 nm patterning of poly-Si/HfO2 gate stacks was successfully demonstrated.