Study of the influence of ozone-air mixture supply conditions on the process of the photoresist removal from the silicon wafer surface

Abstract

The study is devoted to the research of the dependence of the processing results of photoresistive films on the silicon wafers surface in an ozone environment on the conditions and parameters of the process. The high oxidizing potential of ozone justifies the possibility of its use for removing organic films under atmospheric pressure. The experiments were carried out using the developed research bench, in which the mode and method of heating, as well as the method of supplying gas to the surface of the photoresist, were varied. Silicon wafers with a formed 1,35-μm thick masking photoresist film were used as experimental samples. It was found expedient that uniform heating of the plate over its entire surface can be achieved using a ceramic IR heater. When the ozone-air mixture was introduced into the center of the heated sample, the presence of the removed photoresist residues was observed, which was associated with a temperature drop in its surface area. To solve this problem, the computer models of the temperature regimes of the reaction volume elements were calculated. They showed that the scattering of the working gas flow over the surface of the silicon wafer would significantly increase the efficiency of photoresist removal, and with a good selection of the treatment regime it would ensure complete removal of the photoresist. The data obtained were experimentally confirmed by using an ozone-air mixture flow separator. Experiments were carried out to study the effect of the distance from the wafer surface to the working gas inlet on the photoresist removal rate. They showed that a decrease in the distance reduces the ozone loss due to thermal decomposition and, consequently, increases the material removal rate.