X-ray evaluation of high-verticality sidewalls fabricated by deep reactive ion etching. (10th May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Takeuchi, Kazuma; Ezoe, Yuichiro; Ishikawa, Kumi; Nakamura, Kasumi; Numazawa, Masaki; Terada, Masaru; Fujitani, Maiko; Ishi, Daiki; Noda, Yusuke; Ohashi, Takaya; Morishita, Kohei; Nakajima, Kazuo; Mitsuda, Kazuhisa
• Is Part Of: Japanese journal of applied physics. Volume 56:Number 6(2017)Supplement 1
• Publication Date: 2017-05-10
• Subjects: Physics -- Periodicals; 621.05
• DOI: 10.7567/JJAP.56.06GN04
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-4922

Abstract

Abstract: We report the fabrication and characterization of high-verticality sidewalls by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). We quantitatively evaluated the verticality of the sidewalls with a width of 20 µm and a depth of 300 µm by using an X-ray beam (1.49 keV). To the best of our knowledge, we succeeded in constraining the verticality and smoothness of the DRIE-fabricated sidewalls with the highest accuracy. The verticality of the sidewalls against the wafer surface was estimated from the shifts of the X-ray focus to be 8.7 ± 3.2 arcmin on average within the wafer, while the resolution of the X-ray focus was 21.1 ± 2.7 arcmin in half-power diameter. Although the verticality and resolution require further improvements, we verified that the X-ray imaging technique is valid for quantifying the sidewall properties.