As integration of circuits increases, required feature size becomes smaller and smaller. Defect control becomes tighter due to decrease in defect size that affects the images printed on the wafer and increase in possibility to be killer defect like 2-face bridge defect. Therefore, particle sources from all processes should be controlled extremely. Especially for dry etching process, Alumina ceramic has been widely used for plasma resistance material such as electrode covering plate and insulator. However, they can be etched under 'F' series plasma condition as well, even in small amounts. It has been reported that non-volatile by-products from etch ceramic can be particle sources to be killer defect. Therefore, selection of ceramic materials must be important for particle control in dry etch process. This paper pertains to testing etch resistance differences in Alumina (Al₂O₃) and Yttria (Y₂O₃) ceramic materials depending on various density and surface roughness. Ceramic surface microstructures change after plasma treatment was observed with scanning electron microscope (SEM) and ceramic erosion rate after plasma treatment was measured with surface profiler.

Date Published: 23 September 2009
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 7488, Photomask Technology 2009, 74882Z (23 September 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.833515

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7488:
Photomask Technology 2009
Larry S. Zurbrick; M. Warren Montgomery, Editor(s)