The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 06, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 27, 1997
Chan-Lon Yang, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Mei Chang, Saratoga, CA (US);
Paul Arleo, San Francisco, CA (US);
Haojiang Li, San Jose, CA (US);
Hyman Levinstein, Berkley Heights, NJ (US);
Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A plasma etch process is described for the etching of oxide with a high selectivity to nitride, including nitride formed on uneven surfaces of a substrate, e.g., on sidewalls of steps on an integrated circuit structure. The addition of a hydrogen-bearing gas to C,F,or C,F,etch gases and a scavenger for fluorine, in a plasma etch process for etching oxide in preference to nitride, results in a high selectivity to nitride which is preserved regardless of the topography of the nitride portions of the substrate surface.