Abstract
The etching characteristics of zinc oxide (ZnO) were investigated, including the etch rate and the selectivity of ZnO in a <TEX>$Cl_2/BCl_3$</TEX>/Ar plasma. It was found that the ZnO etch rate, the RF power, and the gas pressure showed non-monotonic behaviors with an increasing Cl2 fraction in the <TEX>$Cl_2/BCl_3$</TEX>/Ar plasma, a gas mixture of <TEX>$Cl_2$</TEX>(3 sccm)/<TEX>$BCl_3$</TEX>(16 sccm)/Ar (4 sccm) resulted in a maximum ZnO etch rate of 53 nm/min and a maximum etch selectivity of 0.89 for ZnO/<TEX>$SiO_2$</TEX>. We used atomic force microscopy to determine the roughness of the surface. Based on these data, the ion-assisted chemical reaction was proposed as the main etch mechanism for the plasmas. Due to the relatively low volatility of the by-products formed during etching with <TEX>$Cl_2/BCl_3$</TEX>/Ar plasma, ion bombardment and physical sputtering were required to obtain the high ZnO etch rate. The chemical states of the etched surfaces were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). This data suggested that the ZnO etch mechanism was due to ion enhanced chemical etching.
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