James D. Carducci

MxP+: A new dielectric etcher with enabling technology, high productivity, and low cost‐of‐consumables

Dielectric etch accounts for more than half of all the dry etches used in integrated circuit (IC) fabrication, and plays a very important role in fulfilling strict requirements of volume‐manufacturing of IC circuits whose feature size is progressively decreasing. The challenge of meeting volume manufacture requirements is what MxP+ has achieved through a series of hardware and process innovations. By Pareto analysis of the wet clean time of the MxP chamber, we were able to define six major drivers to address three key issues: (1) reduce wet clean time, (2) eliminate system complexity, and (3) achieve technical excellence. Key components of the MxP+ that allow us to address them include a quartz gas distribution plate which prevents the aluminum particle formation, and the electrostatic chuck which eliminates the mechanical clamp system while reducing the particle contamination and wafer edge exclusion. The unique chamber liners of the MxP+ not only shield chamber walls, but also provided a wide process wi...