Patent ID: 11915941
Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 7:
8. A method of etching a substrate using a wet atomic layer etching (ALE) process, the method comprising:
receiving the substrate, the substrate having a material exposed; and
selectively etching the material by performing multiple cycles of the wet ALE process, wherein each cycle comprises:
a) chemically modifying an exposed surface of the material to provide a modified surface layer, wherein said exposed surface is chemically modified by oxidation of the material using an oxidizing agent;
b) binding a complexing agent to the modified surface layer of the material to provide a complex-bound modified surface layer;
c) rinsing the substrate with a solvent; and
d) selectively removing the complex-bound modified surface layer of the material by exposing the complex-bound modified surface layer to a dissolution solution to dissolve the complex-bound modified surface layer; and
wherein said rinsing the substrate is performed for a first time period during one or more first cycles of the wet ALE process, and said rinsing the substrate is performed for a second time period during one or more second cycles of the wet ALE process, wherein the one or more second cycles are performed after the one or more first cycles, and wherein the second time period is longer than the first time period.