Feasibility of Etching Studies on BCN Thin Films. (1st January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Prakash, Adithya; Sundaram, Kalpathy B.
• Is Part Of: ECS journal of solid state science and technology. Volume 5:Number 7(2016)
• Page Start: N35
• Page End: N39
• Publication Date: 2016-01-01
• Subjects: BCN thin films -- low-k dielectric -- Reaction activation energy -- Wet chemical Etch; Solid state chemistry -- Periodicals; Electronics -- Materials -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; 541.0421
• DOI: 10.1149/2.0101607jss
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2162-8777

Abstract

Abstract : Investigation of wet chemical etching Boron carbon nitride (BCN) thin films deposited by dual magnetron sputtering of B4 C (DC) and BN (RF) targets was conducted. BCN, a low-k dielectric material, is a potential candidate as inter-layer dielectric (ILD) in VLSI process. A common aluminum etchant consisting of phosphoric acid (H3 PO4 ), nitric acid (HNO3 ) and acetic acid (CH3 COOH) was tested for its feasibility as a good etchant for BCN thin films. The etching studies were performed on BCN films that were deposited at room temperature, 200°C and 300°C as a function of various N2 /Ar gas flow ratios in an rf sputtering technique. It was found that the film deposited at higher temperatures shows lower etching rate trends. Activation energies (Ea ) were calculated for each N2 /Ar gas flow ratio with the help of Arrhenius plots and compared with respect to elemental compositions of the films.