Hitachi-high-technologies Corporation

Makoto Suyama

Naohiro Yamamoto

Masato Ishimaru

Kentaro Yamada

Daisuke Fujita

Takahiro Abe

Takeshi Shimada

Atsushi Yoshida

Hidenori Toyooka

Norihiro Hosaka

According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a plasma processing method for forming a pattern of a mask on a laminated film of a magnetic film and a metal oxide film, and the plasma processing method includes: plasma etching the magnetic film in a chamber; and after the plasma etching, plasma cleaning the chamber, wherein the plasma cleaning performs first plasma cleaning of plasma cleaning using a gas mixture of chlorine element-containing gas and boron trichloride gas, and after the first plasma cleaning, second plasma cleaning of removing boron remaining in the chamber.

Plasma processing method

In a plasma etching method of plasma-etching a sample which has a first magnetic film, a second magnetic film disposed above the first magnetic film, a metal oxide film disposed between the first magnetic film and the second magnetic film, a second metal film disposed over the second magnetic film and forming an upper electrode, and a first metal film disposed below the first magnetic film and forming a lower electrode, the plasma etching method includes the steps of: a first process for etching the first magnetic film, the metal oxide film, and the second magnetic film by using carbon monoxide gas; and a second process for etching the sample by using mixed gas of hydrogen gas and inactive gas after the first process. In this case, the first metal film is a film containing therein tantalum.

Plasma etching method

A plasma processing method is provided for reducing dimensions of a film to be etched from patterned dimensions, and is capable of reducing dimensions without causing deformation or collapse of the film to be etched. A plasma processing method for trimming a tantalum film by plasma etching using a resist, an antireflective film disposed under the resist, and a mask film disposed under the antireflective film, includes the steps of trimming the antireflective film and the mask film by plasma etching with the resist as a mask; removing the resist and the antireflective film subjected to the trimming, by plasma; and trimming the tantalum film by plasma etching with a mask film obtained after the resist and the antireflective film subjected to the trimming are removed by plasma, as a mask.

A plasma etching method for plasma etching a film to be etched to a size smaller than a prescribed size using a mask patterned to the prescribed size performs etching on the film to be etched to the size smaller than the prescribed size while forming a protection film on side walls of the film to be etched.

The present invention provides, in a plasma etching method for plasma-etching a magnetic film, a plasma etching method that allows a desired etching depth to be obtained regardless of the opening size of a mask. The present invention is, in a plasma etching method for plasma-etching a magnetic film by using a tantalum film as a mask, characterized by including: a first process to plasma-etch the magnetic film to a desired depth by using a mixed gas of an ammonia gas and a helium gas; and a second process, after the first process, to plasma-etch the magnetic film etched to the prescribed depth by using a mixed gas of an ammonia gas and a gas containing the oxygen element or a mixed gas of an ammonia gas and a gas containing a hydroxyl group.

In a plasma processing method for plasma-etching magnetic layer by using a plasma processing device including a processing chamber in which a sample is plasma-processed, a dielectric window to seal an upper part of the processing chamber hermetically, an inductive coupling antenna disposed above the dielectric window, a radio-frequency power source to supply radio-frequency electric power to the inductive coupling antenna and a Faraday shield disposed between the inductive coupling antenna and the dielectric window, a deposit layer is formed on the plasma-etched magnetic layer by plasma processing while applying radio-frequency voltage to the Faraday shield after the magnetic layer is plasma-etched.

A plasma etching method performs plasma etching on a sample, which has laminated films containing a variable layer of a magnetic film, a barrier layer of an insulating material, and a fixed layer of a magnetic film, using a hard mask, which includes at least one of a Ta film and a TiN film. The plasma etching method includes a first step of etching the laminated films using Ngas; and a second step of etching the laminated films after the first step using mixed gas of Ngas and gas containing carbon elements.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Makoto Suyama