KEYWORDS: Etching, Plasma, Bromine, Signal detection, Emission spectroscopy, Interfaces, Process control, Scanning electron microscopy, Signal processing, Optical lithography
In the fabrication of phase change memory devices, HBr/He gas is employed in patterning Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) because it is damage free to GST sidewall. Accurate and reproducible endpoint detection methods are necessary in this etching process. In-situ optical emission spectroscopy (OES) is collected and analyzed to control the GST etching process due to its non-invasiveness. By analyzing the light emitted from plasma, we report an effective etch endpoint detection method for GST etching process is developed and the results are also confirmed using scanning electron micrographs.
KEYWORDS: Chemical mechanical planarization, Germanium, Antimony, Tellurium, Etching, Chemical elements, Resistance, Polishing, Corrosion, Temperature metrology
Amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 (a-GST) chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) using KClO4 as the oxidizer in an acidicslurry is investigated in the present work. It is shown that the removal rate (RR ) of the a-GST firstly increases and thentends to saturate when the KClO4 concentration is greater than 0.8 wt%, but the static etch rate (SER) linearly increasesfrom low to high KClO4 concentration. To understand the oxidation-reaction capability of Ge, Sb and Te, depth profilesof composition of elements and etch morphology of a-GST immersed in the slurry for some time are measured,respectively. It is found that selective corrosion occurs among Ge, Sb and Te, and an accumulation of Te and loss of Gein a-GST surface region are obvious observed, especially at high KClO4 concentrations. Temperature dependent sheetresistance measurements of all the samples pre- and post-CMP reveal a similar trend, which implies a-GST CMP is ableto keep its characteristic well.
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