Etching characteristics of organic low-k films interpreted by internal parameters employing a combinatorial plasma process in an inductively coupled H2/N2 plasma

The development of plasma etching technology is being held back due to the use of trial and error methods when scaling down and high integration. Such a continuous development could result in enormous losses in term of cost and time. It is impossible to overcome without a different approach. In this study, we have tried to accumulate a large amount of data on internal parameters and based on database, the etching characteristics could be interpreted with a high reproducibility. In order to realized faster data acquisitions, we developed a combinatorial plasma process (CPP) for obtaining a large amount of data in a single trial from spatially inhomogeneous plasma distribution regarding etching of organic low-k films in H-2/N-2 plasmas. In addition, synergetic effects of other internal parameters such as vacuum ultraviolet radiation and radicals without ion bombardment were clarified. Finally, the high performance of CPP for faster data acquisitions was shown and the etching characteristics in terms of internal parameters such as ion fluxes and the H/(H+N) radical flux ratio were demonstrated. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3415535]