Allen Zhao

Plasma Diagnostics: Use and Justification in an Industrial Environment

The importance of plasma diagnostics at semiconductor equipment manufacturers has increased steadily over the past decade. The design and procurement of advanced etching tools now require a full host of plasma diagnostics and modeling capability. Examples of these activities at a semiconductor equipment manufacturer will be given, with specifics of significant and useful results. Examples include the development and optimization of an inductive plasma source, trend analysis and hardware effects on ion energy distributions, and mass spectrometry influences on process development. Discussion will focus on plasma diagnostics for in-house development and proliferation in an environment with strong financial justification requirements.

Development of copper etch technology for advanced copper interconnects

Recent development efforts in copper etch processing show promising results in many areas that have posed significant challenges for this new technology. We report on the etch performance for features down to 0.25 /spl mu/m with aspect ratios greater than 2:1. Copper etch rates of over 5000 /spl Aring//min have been achieved, and corrosion-free post copper etch performance has been demonstrated for periods in excess of two weeks. Electrical and device yield tests were conducted and presented in detail.

Development of Cu etch process for advanced Cu interconnects

Recent development efforts in copper etch processing show promising results in many areas that have posed significant challenges for this new technology. We report on etch performance for features down to 0.25 /spl mu/m with aspect ratios greater than 2:1. Copper etch rates greater than 5000 /spl square//min have been achieved, and corrosion-free post Cu etch performance has been demonstrated for periods in excess of 72 hours. Electrical tests were conducted and are presented in detail.