PLASMA-ETCHING OF TI IN FLUORINE-CONTAINING FEEDS

The detailed chemistry of the process of etching of titanium in CF4-O2 plasmas has been studied in the gas phase as well as at the substrate surface. A triode reactor has been utilized to research the role of key parameters such as feed composition, pressure, substrate bias, and temperature, by means of emission spectroscopy and quartz-crystal microbalance technique. Byproducts provided by this research are the principles for using and calibrating quartz microbalances in a broad temperature range (50-300-degrees-C). A diode reactor connected under high vacuum to an x-ray photoelectron spectrometer has been used to characterize the surface chemistry during the etching process in the absence of any external contamination.