A COMPARISON OF ARGON AND HYDROGEN-ION ETCHING AND DAMAGE IN THE SI-SIO2 SYSTEM

We have etched SiO2 films on Si with an Ar ion beam and a H-2 ion beam produced by a Kaufman ion source and at incident ion energies in the range of 300 to 1200 eV. Ion-bombarded sample surfaces, maintained in high vacuum, were characterized by in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) over the photon energy range 2.0 to 5.5 eV and yielded the oxide thickness changes and damage depth produced by ion bombardment under various conditions of ion dose, ion energy, incidence angle, and substrate temperature. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to confirm the SE results.