What is it about?
Dangling bond creation processes during fluorocarbon plasma etching of silicon dioxide (SiO2) films were studied using an in vacuo electron spin resonance technique. High densities of carbon dangling in amorphous fluorinated carbon (a-C:F) films and Si dangling bonds in SiO2 films, called as E' center, play an important part for the etching processes.
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Why is it important?
To understand chemical reactions of the etching surface, creation of dangling bonds (DBs) on the top surface, that is, bond breaking, have not been clarified yet. The authors pointed out that processes take place simultaneously on the etching surface: 1) impinging of ionic and neutral species and radiating of highly energetic photons, 2) chemical reactions, and 3) desorption of reaction products from the surface.
Perspectives
In actual etching plasmas, optical emissions created Si-DB during plasma etching. The interaction between a top-covered a-C:F layer and a defective SiO2 layer underneath it accelerates the etching rate.
Dr Kenji Ishikawa
Nagoya University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: In vacuo measurements of dangling bonds created during Ar-diluted fluorocarbon plasma etching of silicon dioxide films, Applied Physics Letters, June 2005, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/1.1978982.
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