End Point Detection in Reactive Ion Etching Christopher James Pugh
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UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON End Point Detection in Reactive Ion Etching Christopher James Pugh This thesis has been submitted towards the completion of Doctorate of Engineering with the department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of UCL. I, Christopher James Pugh confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signed: 2 Abstract End-point detection for deep reactive ion etch of silicon in the semiconductor industry has been investigated with a focus on statistical treatments on optical emission spectroscopy. The data reduction technique Principal components analysis (PCA) has been briefly reviewed and analysed as an introduction to independent component analysis (ICA). ICA is a computational dimension reduction technique capable of separating multivariate data into single components. In this instance PCA and ICA are used in to combine the spectral channels of optical emission spectroscopy of plasma processes into a reduced number of components. ICA is based on a fixed-point iteration process maximizing non-gaussianity as a measure of statistical independence. ICA has been shown to offer an improvement in signal to noise ratio when compared to principal component analysis, which has been widely used in previous studies into end-pointing. In addition to the end-point investigation, a study was carried out into the fabrication of arrays of free standing silicon nanorods. The fabrication process consisted of an electron beam lithograpy stage to pattern bare silicon, followed by a deep reactive ion etch - using the Bosch process - to create the nanorods. A variety of difference diameter nanorods, with a selection of pitch dimensions were created using this technique. Acknowledgements I would like to thank my parents for supporting me throughout the course of my EngDoc studies and assisting enormously by providing a place to live and work whilst I completed the writing of this thesis. My family as a whole has been extremely helpful and encouraging throughout the course of my studies so I offer my thanks to them. I would like to offer thanks to my supervisor Professor Arokia Nathan for enabling my project to take place. I offer thanks to my selection of industry based supervisors; initially Leslie Lea - then of SPTS and now of Oxford Instruments; later Yiping Song took over as Leslie changed employer, I am extremely grateful to him and the technical advice offered as I developed my thesis subject matter. Although Oliver Ansell of SPTS was not technically a supervisor, the help and time offered by him were invaluable to my project. Also I would like to thank David Tossell of SPTS for overseeing my time at the junction 24 site of SPTS. Finally I would like to acknowledge my loving girlfriend Sarah for putting up with me as I relocated not once, but twice in order to get my work completed. 3 Glossary of Terms PCA – Principal Component Analysis ICA – Independent Component Analysis OES – Optical Emission Spectroscopy SOI – Silicon on insulator – Silicon has an oxide layer grown on it, with a silicon layer grown on top of the oxide layer. Matlab – Numerical Computation software from Math Works ICP – Inductively coupled plasma SPTS – Surface Process Technology Systems LCN – London Centre for Nanotechnology UCL – University College London Bosch Process – A deep reactive ion etch process 4 Table of Contents 1. Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 13 1.1. A brief introduction to the project........................................................................................ 13 1.2. Surface Process Technology Systems – About the company ................................................ 14 1.3. Semiconductor Industry ........................................................................................................ 15 1.4. References ............................................................................................................................ 17 2. Chapter 2 - Experimental Equipment ........................................................................................... 18 2.1. Plasma Generation ................................................................................................................ 18 2.2. Advanced Silicon Etch tool – London Centre for Nanotechnology ....................................... 21 2.3. SPTS Pegasus - SPTS Newport, Junction 28 Site .................................................................... 22 2.4. SPTS Rapier - SPTS Newport, Junction 24 site ...................................................................... 24 2.5. Loadlocks – wafer loading system ........................................................................................ 25 2.6. Alternative Etch Tools ........................................................................................................... 25 2.7. Verity Spectrograph .............................................................................................................. 26 2.8. Electron Beam Lithography – Spin Coater - LCN ................................................................... 29 2.9. Raith 150 Two Electron Beam Lithography Tool – LCN clean room ..................................... 30 2.10. Oxygen Plasma Chamber (ashing)..................................................................................... 32 2.11. Edwards A500 Electron Beam Evaporator – LCN Clean Room ......................................... 33 2.12. Hitachi Leo - Scanning Electron Microscope ..................................................................... 35 2.13. Carl Zeiss Supra - Scanning Electron Microscope ............................................................. 36 2.14. The Bosch Process ............................................................................................................. 36 2.15. Silicon Etch via Fluorine .................................................................................................... 37 2.16. Passivation Step ................................................................................................................ 38 2.17. Bosch Process Passivation Step Polymerisation Mechanism ............................................ 39 2.18. The Bosch Process Steps ................................................................................................... 40 2.19. References ........................................................................................................................ 44 3. Chapter 3 – A review of the plasma etching industry ................................................................... 45 3.1. Plasma Etching - an Introduction .......................................................................................... 45 3.2. Plasma Etching – The Technique........................................................................................... 46 3.3. End Point Detection .............................................................................................................. 48 3.4. Laser Interferometry - Theory............................................................................................... 55 3.5. Low open area end point detection ...................................................................................... 58 3.6. Optical Emission Spectroscopy ............................................................................................. 60 3.7. Optical Emission Spectroscopy in III/V Compound Etching .................................................. 69 3.8. Statistical Treatments of Optical Emission Spectroscopy ..................................................... 71 3.9. Laser Interferometry ............................................................................................................. 80 3.10. III/V Compounds ............................................................................................................... 84 3.11. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 90 3.12. References ........................................................................................................................ 93 4. Chapter 4 – Optical Emission Spectroscopy .................................................................................. 96 4.1. Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) - Theory ..................................................................... 96 4.2. Limitations of Optical Emission Spectroscopy as an End Point Detection System ............. 101 4.3. Noise in Optical Emission Spectra ....................................................................................... 102 4.4. References .......................................................................................................................... 104 5 5. Chapter 5 - Principal Component Analysis .................................................................................. 105 5.1. Principal Component Analysis - Theory .............................................................................. 105 5.2. Experimental Method ......................................................................................................... 109 5.3. Surface Process Technology Systems (SPTS) Advanced Silicon Etch (ASE) - 100% Resist Coverage ........................................................................................................................................