DOIAbstract
Plasma etching is indispensable in microelectronics manufacturing, due to its ability to precisely pattern feature with lateral dimensions of <10 nm. To advance this capability to etch layers with atomic fidelity, while also achieving ultra-high material selectivity, low ion energies (10s eV) are required. However, at low ion energies, an alternative etching pathway catalyzed by vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons generated in the plasma has been shown to be very important. In this thesis, photo-assisted etching (PAE) was studied in various halogen containing plasmas. Cl2, Br2, HBr, Br2/Cl2, and HBr/Cl2 feed gases diluted in Ar (50%–50% by volume) were used to study etching of p-type Si(100) in a radio frequency, inductively coupled, Farada...
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