Semiconductor Room What are semiconductors? Semiconductor manufacture

7. What is an Etch system?

An etch system shapes the thin film into a desired patterns using liquid chemicals, reaction gases or ion chemical reaction. It is used in manufacturing lines for semiconductors and other electronic devices. Fig. 7-1 shows the flow of the etching process.

There are two kinds of etching: “dry etching” and “wet etching.” An explanation of each is provided below.

(1) Wet etching

Fig.7-2. Wet etching

The exposed portion is removed by using acid or alkali.

Characteristics
Inexpensive chemical liquids
Collectively process multiple wafers at the same time
Isotropic

 

 

(2) Dry etching

Fig.7-3. Wet etching

Using high vacuum plasma

 

Plasma is generated from the gas and the etched material is removed by chemical reaction and accelerated ions.

Characteristics
Excellent in microfabrication and anisotropic
Plasma is used
More expensive than wet etching

 

 

What is plasma?

Plasma is a group of charged particles that is kept almost electrically neutral as a whole. The ions with a positive charge and electrons with a negative charge are distributed equally in an ionized state. Various plasma methods of the dry etch system are shown below.

Fig.7-4. Microwave ECR plasma method ECR：Electron Cyclotron Resonance

Fig.7-5. Capacitively Coupled Plasma (CCP) method CCP：Capacitively Coupled Plasma

Fig.7-6. Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) method ICP：Inductively Coupled Plasma

What is ECR?

ECR stands for Electron Cyclotron Resonance. Applying a magnetic field to a vacuum system starts a rotational motion of electrons called cyclotron motion centered at the magnetic field lines in the magnetic field. When a microwave with frequency ω matching the rotation speed is made incident, energy resonance occurs between the cyclotron motion and electric field, and the electric field energy is absorbed by the electrons. This is called electron cyclotron resonance. It effectively accelerates electrons and can apply a large amount of energy. The plasma that is generated with the energy applied in this way is called ECR plasma. The microwave is 2.45GHz, and the corresponding resonance magnetic field is 875 Gauss.

Product introduction

Conductor Etch System 9000 Series

Conductor Etch System 9000 Series

The devices of the 20nm generation and beyond require a high precision, complex process for the post-process and protective film formation to deal with the double patterning, 3D structures and new material. To support the next-generation device process, Hitachi provides an expandable, flexible process compatible with the cutting-edge device by integrating interfaces and installing various chambers modularized with high accuracy.

 

 

 

Dry Etch Systems of Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation

 

Non-Volatile Materials Etch System

Non-Volatile Materials Etch System

Hitachi High-Technologies’ Non-Volatile Materials Etch System adopts the electro-magnetically coupled plasma (EMCP) method. By implementing the original cleaning technology, it provides high mass production stability in the non-volatile material processing used by the next-generation memory and the magnetic head mounted on the hard disc drive (HDD).