Spts Technologies Limited

Surface Technology Systems Plc

Other

Huma Ashraf

Kevin Riddell

Jyoti Kiron Bhardwaj

Janet Hopkins

Alan Michael Hynes

Codrin Prahoveanu

Babak Khamsehpour

David Mark Haynes

Anthony Barker

Martin Edward Ryan

Leslie Michael Lea

Roland Mumford

Ian Ronald Johnston

Alex Wood

Grant Baldwin

Brian Kiernan

Kerry Roberts

Pey Fen Eng

A structure comprising a substrate and a component which forms involatile metal etch products is plasma etched. A structure comprising a substrate and a component which forms involatile metal etch products is provided. The structure is positioned on a support within a chamber having a first gas inlet arrangement comprising one or more gas inlets and a second gas inlet arrangement comprising one or more gas inlets. The structure is etched by performing a first plasma etch step using a first etch process gas mixture which is only introduced into the chamber through the first gas inlet arrangement. The structure is further etched by performing a second plasma etch step using a second etch process gas mixture which is only introduced into the chamber through the second gas inlet arrangement.

Method and apparatus for plasma etching

A structure comprising a semiconductor substrate and a layer of PZT (lead zirconate titanate) is etched by performing a first plasma etch step with a first etch process gas mixture. The first etch process gas mixture comprises at least one fluorine containing species. The first plasma etch step is performed so that involatile metal etch products are deposited onto interior surfaces of the chamber. The structure is further etched by performing a second plasma etch step with a second etch process gas mixture. The second etch process gas mixture comprises at least one fluorocarbon species. The second plasma etch step is performed so that a fluorocarbon polymer layer is deposited onto interior surfaces of the chamber to overlay involatile metal etch products deposited in the first plasma etch step and to provide a substrate on which further involatile metal etch products can be deposited.

Method of plasma etching

A clamp assembly is for clamping an outer peripheral portion of a substrate to a support in a plasma processing chamber. An RF bias power is applied to the support during the plasma processing of the substrate. The clamp assembly includes an outer clamp member, and an inner clamp member which is received by the outer clamp member, the inner clamp member defining an aperture which exposes the substrate to the plasma processing. The outer clamp member has an inner portion terminating in an inner edge, wherein the inner portion is spaced apart from the inner clamp member.

Clamp assembly

According to the invention there is provided a method of plasma etching a silicon-based compound semiconductor substrate, the method comprising providing the substrate within an etch chamber and performing a cyclical process on the substrate, each cycle comprising supplying an etchant gas into the chamber, energising the gas into a plasma, and performing an etch step on the substrate using the plasma; and performing a desorption step, wherein during the desorption step, the only gas that is supplied into the etch chamber is an inert gas, so as to allow reactive species that have adsorbed to the surface of the substrate during the etch step to desorb from the surface of the substrate.

A method is for manufacturing a plurality of silicon microneedles which have a bevelled tip. The method includes providing a silicon substrate having a front face and a rear face, forming a first mask arrangement on the front face of the substrate, the first mask arrangement defining one or more gaps, and performing a SFbased plasma etch of the front face through the gaps in the first mask arrangement to provide one or more etch features having a sloping face. The SFbased plasma etch undercuts the first mask arrangement with an undercut that is at least 10% of the depth of a corresponding etch feature. The method further includes forming a second mask arrangement on the etch features to define locations of the microneedles, in which the second mask arrangement is located entirely on sloping faces of the etch features, and performing a DRIE (deep reactive ion etch) anisotropic plasma etch of the etched front face of the substrate to form a plurality of microneedles which have a bevelled tip, where the sloping faces of the etch features at least in part give rise to the bevelled tips of the microneedles.

Microneedles

A method and system are for monitoring and controlling deformation of a wafer substrate during a plasma etching of the wafer substrate. The method includes disposing a wafer substrate on a platen assembly within a process chamber so that an entire upper surface of the wafer is exposed, passing a process gas into the process chamber, applying a radio frequency bias voltage to the platen assembly, generating a plasma within the process chamber, monitoring a voltage difference between the platen assembly and the process chamber, during the etch process, and attenuating or extinguishing the plasma to prevent further etching once a threshold monitored voltage is reached.

Method and system of monitoring and controlling deformation of a wafer substrate

A method of etching a feature in a substrate includes forming a mask structure over the substrate, the mask structure defining at least one re-entrant opening, etching the substrate through the opening to form the feature using a cyclic etch and deposition process, and removing the mask.

Method of etching

A method of plasma etching a silicon carbide workpiece includes forming a mask on a surface of the silicon carbide workpiece, performing an initial plasma etch on the masked surface using a first set of process conditions, wherein the plasma is produced using an etchant gas mixture which includes i) oxygen and ii) at least one fluorine rich gas which is present in the etchant gas mixture at a volume ratio of less than 50%, and subsequently performing a bulk plasma etch process using a second set of process conditions which differ from the first set of process conditions.

A sidewall passivation layer is deposited on an etched feature in a semiconductor substrate with a hydrocarbon deposition gas by introducing H,, determining certain mixture percentages for the hydrocarbon gas/H,mix at which the etch rate for the substrate peaks, the etch rate begins to rise from a generally steady state, and/or the etch rate falls to zero, and then maintaining the mixture percentage within a selected range. Where the hydrocarbon gas/H,mix is maintained at a percentage between the steady-state etch rate percentage and the peak etch rate percentage, then relatively high ion energies are used. Where the hydrocarbon gas/H,mix is maintained at a percentage between the peak etch rate percentage and the percentage where the etch rate falls to zero, then relatively low ion energies are used. High aspect-ratio features in a semiconductor substrate can be produced by performing alternating etching and depositing a passivation layer on the substrate, where the deposition is performed according to the above-described deposition process.

Method of surface treatment of semiconductor substrates

There is disclosed a method and apparatus for etching a substrate. The method comprises the steps of etching a substrate or alternately etching and depositing a passivation layer. A bias frequency, which may be pulsed, may be applied to the substrate and may be at or below the ion plasma frequency.

Method and apparatus for etching a substrate

This invention relates to methods for treatment of semiconductor substrates and in particular a method of etching a trench in a semiconductor substrate in a reactor chamber using alternatively reactive ion etching and depositing a passivation layer by chemical vapour deposition, wherein one or more of the following parameters: gas flow rates, chamber pressure, plasma power, substrate bias, etch rate, deposition rate, cycle time and etching/deposition ratio vary with time.

Growing community of inventors

Newport, United Kingdom

Huma Ashraf