Etching process characterization of Nitride layer and Poly silicon layer using TRION III Etcher

The TRION III etch tool enables us to do a more anisotropic etching of necessary layers such as Nitride and Polysilicon. Therefore proper characterization of the machine is required to be done for better understanding of each parameter and its effect on etching profile. The characterization of the tool revealed a significant difference in etching performance and parameters compared to our previous established data set from Drytek quad. It was observed the time for etching for Polysilicon drop by almost 75 percent - which leads us to understand a faster etch rate. In terms of Nitride, it was also seen as better etch uniformity and directionality. The etch selectivity of Nitride test resulted in us understanding how the gas selectively etches the nitride and photoresist. Through this paper better etch recipes can be made for any device fabrication process which will aide in smaller device fabrication and increase in yield across the wafer