Articles & Issues

Language: English

Conflict of Interest: In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Publication history: Received February 17, 2004
Accepted June 23, 2004

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

All issues

Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching of Ta, Co, Fe, NiFe, NiFeCo, and MnNi with Cl2/Ar Discharges

Hyung Jo Park Hyun-Wook Ra¹ Kwang Sup Song² Yoon-Bong Hahn^1†

Knowledge on* Inc., Iksan 513-37, Korea ¹School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, and Nanomaterials Research Center, Chonbuk National University, Chonju 561-756, Korea ²Korea Institute of Energy Research, Daejeon 305-343, Korea

Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, November 2004, 21(6), 1235-1239(5), 10.1007/BF02719500

Download PDF

Abstract

Dry etching of the magnetic thin films such as Ta, Fe, Co, NiFe, NiFeCo, and MnNi was carried out in inductively coupled plasmas of Cl₂/Ar mixture. All the magnetic materials went through a maximum etch rate at 25% Cl₂. The effects of the ICP source power and the rf chuck power on the etch rate and the surface roughness were quite dependent of the materials. An ion-enhanced chemical etch mechanism was important for the magnetic films. The surface roughness of the etched samples was relatively constant of the rf chuck power up to 200W, but a rougher surface at a higher rf power was obtained. Post-etch cleaning of the etched samples in de-ionized water reduced the chlorine residues substantially.

Keywords

Magnetic Thin Films Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching MRAM Post-etch Treatment

References

Gallagher WJ, Parkin SSP, Lu Y, Bian XP, Marley A, Roche KP, Altman RA, Rishton SA, Jahnes C, Shaw TM, Xiao G, J. Appl. Phys., 81, 3741 (1997)
Gokan H, Esho S, J. Vac. Sci. Technol., 18, 23 (1981)
Hahn YB, Pearton SJ, Korean J. Chem. Eng., 17(3), 304 (2000)
Hahn YB, Choi RJ, Hong JH, Park HJ, Choi CS, Lee HJ, J. Appl. Phys., 92, 1189 (2002)
Hahn YB, Hays DC, Cho H, Jung KB, Abernathy CR, Pearton SJ, Appl. Surf. Sci., 147, 207 (1999)
Hahn YB, Hays DC, Cho H, Jung KB, Abernathy CR, Pearton SJ, Appl. Surf. Sci., 147, 215 (1999)
Hahn YB, Hays DC, Donovan SM, Abernathy CR, Han J, Shul RJ, Cho H, Jung KB, Pearton SJ, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A, 17(3), 768 (1999)
Hahn YB, Lee JW, Vawter GA, Shul RJ, Abernathy CR, Hays DC, Lambers ES, Pearton SJ, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B, 17(2), 366 (1999)
Hong J, Caballero JA, Lambers ES, Childress JR, Pearton SJ, Jenson M, Hurst AT, Appl. Surf. Sci., 138 (1999)
Im YH, Choi CS, Hahn YB, J. Korean Phys. Soc., 39, 617 (2001)
Jung KB, Cho H, Hahn YB, Hays DC, Lambers ES, Park YD, Feng T, Childress JR, Pearton SJ, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A, 17(4), 2223 (1999)
Jung KB, Cho H, Hahn YB, Hays DC, Lambers ES, Park YD, Feng T, Childress JR, Pearton SJ, Appl. Surf. Sci., 140, 215 (1999)
Jung KB, Cho H, Hahn YB, Hays DC, Lambers ES, Park YD, Feng T, Childress JR, Pearton SJ, J. Appl. Phys., 85, 4788 (1999)
Park JS, Kim TH, Choi CS, Hahn YB, Korean J. Chem. Eng., 19(3), 486 (2002)
Tehrani S, Chen E, Durlam M, DeHerrera M, Slaughter JM, Shi J, Kerszykowski G, J. Appl. Phys., 85, 5822 (1999)
Vasile MJ, Mogab CJ, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A, 4, 1841 (1986)
Zhu JG, Zheng Y, Prinz GA, J. Appl. Phys., 87, 6668 (2000)