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EP0047395A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

System for reactive ion etching

Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
•
Filing: 1981-08-04
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2001-08-04
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Abstract

Abstract A plasma enhancing baffle plate (41) is employed in conjunction with the anode (3) of a reactive ion etching (RIE) system to provide uniform silicon etching. The baffle plate is conductively coupled to and provided in relatively close proximity to the anode to form a constricted chamber region (43) between anode and baffle plate. With the constricted chamber open to the RIE chamber through aperture means (41) in the baffle plate, the total surface area of the anode is increased, such that when the system is biased to operate in an RIE mode an increase in the generation of neutral etching species is effected. Various aperture arrangements may be employed to provide different patterns of neutral etching species generation, in accordance with the peculiar characteristics of the system employed.

Inventors

  • 👤 Charles Joseph Hendricks
  • 👤 William Wallace Hicks
  • 👤 John Howard Keller

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-09 02:44
CPC Classifications
H; H01; H01J; H01J37/00; H01J37/32; H01J37/32431; H01J37/32623; H01J37/32633

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 8
Claim 1
Independent Claim 100 words
A reactive ion etching system including an anode (3) and a target. cathode (5) biased to create an ionized plasma (34) within a reaction chamber (1) having an ion species and neutral species, characterized by a plasma enhancing baffle plate (41) electrically coupled to said anode and arranged to form a constricted chamber region (43) between said anode and baffle plate, with said baffle plate being at least as close to said anode than as to said cathode and with said constricted chamber region being open to said reaction chamber through one or more apertures (45) in said baffle plate.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 100 words
A reactive ion etching system including an anode (3) and a target. cathode (5) biased to create an ionized plasma (34) within a reaction chamber (1) having an ion species and neutral species, characterized by a plasma enhancing baffle plate (41) electrically coupled to said anode and arranged to form a constricted chamber region (43) between said anode and baffle plate, with said baffle plate being at least as close to said anode than as to said cathode and with said constricted chamber region being open to said reaction chamber through one or more apertures (45) in said baffle plate.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 52 words
The system of Claim 1, wherein the baffle plate (41) is arranged so as to be no greater in distance from the anode (3) than 25 percent of the diameter of said baffle plate and no less in distance from said anode than from 10 to 20 Debye lengths of said plasma.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 17 words
The system of Claim 2, wherein said baffle plate is approximately 508 mm (20 inches) in diameter.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 20 words
The system of Claim 1, wherein the dimension of the aperture is greater than the Debye length of said plasma.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 11 words
The system of Claim 4, wherein the neutral species comprises fluorine.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 15 words
The system of Claim 5, wherein a semiconductor, especially silicon, is etched by the fluorine.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 24 words
The system of Claim 1, wherein the apertures (46, 48, 50) decrease in size from the central region of the baffle plate (41) outwardly.

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