Feature profile evolution in high-density plasma etching of silicon with Cl2

A Monte Carlo based profile simulator was constructed that incorporated the dominant reaction mechanisms of surface chlorination under simultaneous neutral and ion bombardment, surface etching, and ion reflection. The profile simulation is based on the kinetics model developed from beam studies that measured the ion energy, ion and neutral fluxes and ion angular dependencies of Cl+ ion-enhanced etching with Cl. The profile evolution of patterned samples with oxide hard mask etched in an inductively coupled plasma etcher were simulated. The mechanisms of undercutting and microtrenching forming were discussed. Ions scattered from the neighboring hardmask were primarily responsible for the undercutting, while ions reflected from bowed feature sidewalls were primarily responsible for the microtrenching. The profile evolutions under different processing conditions were compared with experimental results and some etching artifacts were characterized and discussed. The neutral-to-ion ratio was found to influence the surface chlorination significantly, thus causing variation of profile evolution. Higher ion energy would give more ideal profiles due to increased ion directionality. However, higher ion energy also increased the etching rate and reduced the chlorination at the bottom of the feature. The reduced chlorination of the feature bottom relative to the sidewall increases the ratio of lateral etching to vertical etching, and decreases the etching anisotropy. The influence Of SiCl2 deposition and mask angle on feature profile evolution were also investigated. (C) 2003 American Vacuum Society.