Copper, silver, and gold etching with H₂ and CH₄ based plasmas

This thesis describes investigations on Cu, Ag, and Au subtractive etching by H₂ and CH₄ plasmas below room temperature. Both blanket film of Cu, Ag, and Au etching and patterning studies were performed for the applications of these metals as interconnects in electronic devices and photonic devices to replace current Damascene process. The nm scale Cu patterning in H₂ plasma was demonstrated by etching Ta/Cu/Ta stacks. Also, Ag and Au etching was feasible in H₂ plasma unlike other transition metals such as Ti, Ta, Ni, Cr, Al, and Pt indicating the etching chemistry based on the similar electronic structures of group 11 metals plays important role. In addition, employing CH₄ plasma allowed the use of photoresist mask and patterned Cu, Ag, and Au with high selectivity. The overall etch mechanism is the combination of chemical reactions and physical (photon and ion) bombardment in H₂ and CH₄ plasma. However, the Cu etching mechanism is more dependent on the chemistry while Ag and Au patterning were dominated by physical bombardment. Finally, the direction for future work including further mechanistic study and process optimization is suggested.Ph.D