Influence of coil power on the etching characteristics in a high density plasma etcher

We present the effects of applied coil power on silicon etching in a high density inductively coupled plasma etcher in both the isotropic and anisotropic regimes. The experimentally obtained response surfaces were generated while changing four etching variables for the isotropic case and eight etching variables for the anisotropic case. The measured performance contained in this report serves as a guide to tailor etching conditions to produce isotropic profiles while etching with pure SF6, and also to optimize anisotropic profiles when using time multiplexed deep etching. The response surfaces contained herein are useful for micromachining high aspect ratio structures. (C) 1999 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.