Abstract:
A plasma process using a reactant gas mixture of fluorinated etching gas and oxygen for selectively etching a thin film of material such as silicon nitride with high selectivity for a silicon oxide underlayer and, preferably, for a photoresist overlayer mask.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the selective, preferably anisotropic, etching of films such as silicon nitride, formed over silicon dioxide. In particular, our invention relates to a process for etching silicon nitride anisotropically with high selectivity to the underlying silicon dioxide and with a controlled silicon nitride profile and controlled silicon dioxide loss or gain. 
     The composite silicon nitride-over-silicon oxide has a number of applications in integrated circuits. For example, nitride-over-oxide may be used as an oxidation mask to selectively expose field areas of IC (integrated circuit) wafers during LOCOS formation of the field isolation oxide. In such applications, the underlying oxide may be very thin. During the patterning of the silicon nitride LOCOS mask, it is necessary to precisely replicate the lithographic mask, such a photoresist, in the silicon nitride without dimensional loss, with good resolution and without etching of (i.e., with suitably high selectivity for) the overlying photoresist mask and the underlying thin oxide. When the nitride is removed subsequently from the active areas, selectivity for photoresist is not a concern, because the photoresist is stripped prior to the LOCOS oxidation. However, preventing degradation or removal of the thin oxide is still very much a concern. 
     Fluorocarbon etchants such a CH 3  F and CH 2  F 2  and SF 6  and NF 3  have been used to etch silicon nitride. Flurocarbon etchants may form non-volatile carbon-containing organic polymers which deposit on the oxide and, therefore, increase the etch selectivity. However, carbon forms particulates and, thus, results in an undesirably dirty process, particularly for LSI (large scale integration) and VLSI (very large scale integration) circuits, which are susceptible to even a relatively few very small particulates. In addition, organic polymer layers may deposit, sometimes indiscriminately, within the reactor, necessitating relatively frequent cleaning of the reactor. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is a primary object of the present invention to selectively etch a thin film such as silicon nitride formed on a silicon dioxide underlayer. 
     It is a related objective to provide a process which achieves selective anisotropic etching of silicon nitride-over-silicon dioxide with a resulting controlled anisotropic nitride etch profile and controlled selectivity (either gain or loss) for the underlying oxide. 
     It is another related object to provide such a process which also achieves controlled selectivity for photoresist masks. The above and other objectives are achieved using an SiF 4  and O 2  based reactant gas flow which etches silicon nitride and selectively deposits oxide, thereby compensating for the inherent etching of oxide underlayers by the fluorine species. To our knowledge, SiF 4  and O 2  have been used to deposit silicon oxide, but not to etch thin fims such as nitride and not to etch such films with controlled deposition on an underlayer. 
     In one aspect, our process is adapted to selectively (and anisotropically) etch a silicon nitride layer constituent of a body comprising a silicon nitride layer formed over a silicon oxide underlayer, with controlled selectivity for the silicon oxide underlayer, and comprises exposing the body to a plasma formed from a reactant gas flow of SiF 4  and oxygen. 
     In another related aspect, ours is a process for etching a silicon nitride layer constituent of a body comprising a layer of silicon nitride over a silicon oxide underlayer, with controlled high selectivity for the silicon oxide underlayer, using a photoresist etch mask formed over the silicon nitride, in a plasma etching chamber, comprising: positioning the masked body in the etch chamber; and communicating into the chamber a selectedd reactive gas mixture comprising NF 3 , SiF 4 , and O 2  for etching the silicon nitride with a high selectivity for the photoresist and for the oxide underlayer. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a suitable plasma etching system for practicing the present process. 
     FIGS. 2-5 depict trend lines showing the effect of the various gases on oxide and nitride each rates. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Overall Process 
     Our invention uses oxygen-containing fluorinated gas chemistry in a vacuum plasma reactor to etch silicon nitride with controlled anisotropy, accompanied by high selectivity to organic photoresist masks and controlled selectivity to oxide. This controlled silicon nitride etch is a simple, one-step process, which increases repeatability, decreases material costs and enhances operator control. In addition, the increased selectivity to the oxide underlayer increases process yields and makes it easier to adapt the process to other applications. 
     The preferred reactive gas chemistry comprises O 2  /SiF 4  and, more particularly, NF 3  /O 2  /SiF 4 . SiF 4  is the selectivity and nitride etch agent (see Reaction A). NF 3  can be the main nitride etchant (see Reaction B). The O 2  combines with silicon from the SiF 4  to selectively form a silicon oxide-containing deposit on the oxide underlayer and, thus, increase the selectivity for oxide layers (see Reaction A). For example, typically, increasing the number of silicon nitride-containing wafers decreases the nitride etch rate, but increasing the NF 3  flow rate thus compensates for the increased number of wafers, by increasing the nitride etch rate, even where other parameters are maintained constant. The addition of NF 3  increases the usable range of the process, i.e., the process window. 
     2. Process Trends/Trend Lines 
     The versatility and advantages of our present process is demonstrated by the ability to use the selected process gases to tailor the etch selectivity for photoresist etch masks and to control the rate of deposition of the silicon oxide-containing compounds and thereby control the loss (or gain) of oxide during the process by changing the flow rate and flow rate ratios of the three main gaseous reactants NF 3 , O 2  and SiF 4 . These results are achieved using a standard, unaltered reactor 10, FIG. 1. The effects of the selected process gases are summarized below. 
     The applicable equilibrium reactions for the SiF 4 , NF 3  and O 2  are: 
     
         Reaction A: SiF.sub.4 +O.sub.2 ⃡SiO.sub.2 +4F 
    
     
         Reaction B: 2NF.sub.3 ⃡N.sub.2 +6F 
    
     Reaction A dominates the selectivity mechanism, because the SiO 2  is deposited and the fluorine is a nitride etchant. As shown in Reaction B, the fluorine increases the nitride etch rate. 
     The nitride etch rate is directly proportional to the flow rate of the SiF 4 , which is used here as the main nitride etchant. 
     As mentioned above and as depicted in FIGS. 2 and 3, increasing the flow rate of NF 3  increases both the nitride etch rate and the oxide loss. 
     The oxide etch rate is affected by the photoresist coverage on the wafer. Specifically, the oxide etch rate is inversely proportional to the area of the wafer covered by the photoresist at fixed process conditions. Decreasing/increasing the photoresist coverage increases/decreases the oxide loss during etching. The photoresist acts as an oxygen getter which slows down or prohibits the formation of and the deposition of SiO x , which is the key factor in controlling oxide loss or gain and selectivity. However, as discussed below, an IC design and associated nitride etching step which require a large area photoresist coverage can be compensated for by increasing the oxygen flow rate. 
     As mentioned previously, the oxide etch/deposition rate is affected and controllable by changing the percent of oxygen in the total gas flow. In fact, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, both the nitride etch rate and the oxide etch rate are inversely proportional to the oxygen proportion of the total flow. However, the responses of the oxide and nitride etch rates are different as the oxygen flow rate is increased and this is responsible for our ability to exploit the selectivity mechanism. Moreover, the addition of NF 3  contributes to the control of the selectivity mechanism. Referring further to FIG. 4, decreasing/increasing the flow rate of the oxygen relative to the other gases also decreases/increases the selected deposition of SiO x , typically SiO 2 , on the oxide and consequently increases/decreases the oxide loss during etching. See Reaction A. Increasing the flow rate of oxygen can increase the silicon oxide deposition rates sufficiently to provie infinite selectivity to oxide (zero etch rate) and, in fact, to provide net oxide deposition or gain rather than loss. In effect, varying the oxygen flow rate ratio permits the selection of oxide etch/deposition from a continuum of rates, that is, from high etch rates at one end of the spectrum, to zero etch/deposition, to deposition. Furthermore, our understanding of the different effects of photoresist coverage and oxide flow on the oxide etch/deposition rates has made it possible to obtain the low oxide etch rates and high selectivity to different photoresist coverage by adjusting the O 2  flow rate. That is, large area photoresist coverage can be compensated by increasing the oxygen flow. 
     SiF 4  is an etchant (the nitride etch rate is proportional to the SiF 4  flow). In addition, the effect of SiF 4  flow on oxide etch/deposition is similar to that of oxygen flow in that the oxide (specifically SiO 2 ) etch rate is inversely proportional to the SiF 4  flow. Decreasing/increasing the flow rate of the SiF 4  increases/decreases the oxide loss. 
     3. Examples and Applications 
     The tables listed below summarize optimum values and ranges of preferred and useful values of parameters for etching silicon nitride over silicon dioxide using the AME 8110 low pressure ion-assisted plasma reactor. This reactor is available from Applied Materials, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif. The AME 8110 and, more generally, the 8100 series of low pressure reactive ion etching (RIE) mode plasma etching reactors, are schematically illustrated as system 10 in FIG. 1. The RIE system 10 includes a cylindrical reaction chamber 11 and a hexagonal cathode 12 which illustratively holds twenty-four wafers, four to a facet, and is connected to an RF power supply 13. An exhaust port 14 communicates between the interior of the reaction chamber 11 and a vacuum pump. The walls of the reaction chamber 11 and the base plate 16 form the grounded anode of the system. A supply of reactive gas from gas supply 17 is communicated to the interior of the chamber 11 through an entrance port 18 and through a conduit arrangement 19 to a gas distribution ring 20 at the top of the chamber. 
     The geometry of the reactor system 10 is asymmetric. That is, the anode-to-cathode ratio is slightly greater than 2-to-1, resulting in high energy bombardment of the cathode surface 12 relative to the anode surface 11. Such a design provides lower power density and bettern etch uniformity, decreases contamination from the chamber walls and facilitates achievement of etch anisotropy. In addition, the cathode structure configuration allows all twenty-four wafers to be vertically oriented during the process to minimize wafer exposure to particulates. 
     In such RIE mode systems, a highly directional mechanical ion bombardment etch component dominates the more isotropic chemical component and imparts high anisotropy to the etching characteristics of the system. Consequently, RIE mode systems are preferred for the etching fabrication steps of highly dense, small feature size IC applications such as LSI and VLSI circuits. However, the use of the AME 8110 etcher and 8100 series etchers are to be considered illustrative only. The process also has been used successfully in the 8300 series etchers, which also are available from Applied Materials, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. More generally, the present process is primarily chemically driven and, thus, should apply to all plasma state etching systems capable of handling the prescribed gases. 
     The three tables describe three increasingly specific useful ranges of process parameters for etching silicon nitride without damaging the oxide underlayer. That is, Table 1 describes a range of parameters which are expected to provide useful results based upon the data reflected in Tables 2 and 3. Moreover, because this process is chemically driven, it will have applicability to any plasma type system and, e.g., to a much broader range of pressures than are specified in the tables. Table 2 describes a narrower and, thus, more specific set of process parameter ranges which provide a more optimum combination of high silicon nitride etch rate, high selectivity for photoresist and high selectivity for oxide underlayers. Table 3 lists a specific narrow set of process parameters which are presently preferred in that they provide a combination of high nitride etch rates, adequate selectivity for photoresist and very high selectivity for oxide underlayers for a full load of twenty-four, six-inch wafers. 
     
         ______________________________________Etch ParametersSilicon Nitride/SiO.sub.2Process     1. Useful 2. Preferred                             3. OptimumParameters  Range     Range       Value______________________________________Total Gas    10-400    50-100     78Flow, sccmNF.sub.3     0-100     0-50       13SiF.sub.4    0-100    10-50       30O.sub.2      0-100    10-50       15He           0-100    20-50       20Chamber      10-150   20-50       30Pressure, mTResidence   0.5-30     5-15       ˜9Time (sec.)Total Power  100-1500 100-700     600Setting8100 (w)Power       0.05-0.80 0.05-0.17   0.15Density (w/cm.sup.2)Etch Rate,   0-500    100-200     150Ang./min.Selectivity for       ≧0:5                  1:1         1:1Photoresists(AZ 1470)Selectivity forUnderlayer:Composite (1)       &gt;3:1       &gt;5:1       15:1Composite (2)       &gt;5:1      &gt;10:1       25:1______________________________________ (1): Thermal LPCVD Nitride/Thermal Oxide (2): Plasma Nitride/Thermal Oxide 
    
     In general, the tables are self-explanatory. As a group and as indicated, they involve etching a layer of thermal LPCVD silicon nitride or plasma nitride of approximate thickness (low pressure chemical vapor deposition) 1000-3000 Angstroms formed over a thermally-grown silicon dioxide layer of thickness 80-1000 Angstroms, using an 0.6-1.5 microns thick AZ1470 organic photoresist mask. 
     Briefly, the exemplary etch process involves positioning one or more wafers containing the photoresist mask/nitride/oxide composite on the facets within the 8110 etch system, and after standard cleaning, seasoning and calibrating steps, applying gas at the stated flow rates for the given residence time and using the given chamber pressure and power setting. 
     As indicated, the results are quite good. Selectivity for photoresist is ≧0:5, 1:1 and 1:1 for the broad, optimum and preferred full load ranges. The selectivity for the thermal oxide underlayer associated with the thermal LPCVD nitride is &gt;3:1, &gt;5:1 and about 15:1, respectively, for the three ranges. Also, the selectivity for the thermal oxide underlayer is &gt;5:1, &gt;10:1 and about 25:1, respectively, for the plasma nitride. Our process provides excellent linewidth control and a vertical nitride profile, minimizes linewidth loss, and minimizes bird&#39;s beak encrochment during LOCOS thermal oxidation, allowing better channel width definition for MOS devices. Overall uniformity is ±4 percent as compared to ±10 percent for prior practices using the 8110 with prior art high selectivity-to-oxide processes. In addition, because of the high selectivity and excellent unformity, the uniformity of the remaining thermal oxide is much better than that provided by prior art processes. 
     As indicated in Tables 2 and 3, the proper flow ratios of NF 3 , O 2  and SiF 4  are very important in achieving and controlling high selectivity for oxide. Also, the pressure range is very important to controlling and maintaining anisotropy and critical dimensions. It is expected that a substantial increase in pressure in the AME 8110 reactor would decrease critical dimension control and, possibly, etch rate uniformity. 
     As indicated in the tables, an inert gas such as helium can be added to the NF 3  /SiF 4  /O 2  reactant gas composition, for the purpose of improving uniformity. Furthermore, inert gas such as helium or argon may be added in controlled amounts for the purpose of sputtering. In addition, past experience indicates that SF 6  could be substituted for NF 3 , that is, to serve the same functions as the NF 3  (except that non-volatile sulfur may form on the surface). Also, Freon-containing gases defined by the family C n  H y  F x  X z  could be added to increase the selectivity to the photoresist. CO or CO 2  might be substituted of oxygen (however, judicious selection is necessary to prevent adverse side effects such as forming organic deposits). Finally, but not exhaustively, the substitution of nitrogen-containing gases such as N 2  itself, NO 2  or N 2  O may result in the deposition of silicon nitride and/or silicon oxynitrides on silicon, silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, polysilicon or metallic conductors such as aluminum or tungsten during etching or deposition. 
     In general, the above-described process can be adapted readily to etch films that form volatile products with fluorine chemistries, wherever high selectivity to underlying or masking silicon oxide is required. Thus, in addition to etching silicon nitride using SiF 4  /O 2 , NF 3  /SiF 4  /O 2  and NF 3  /SiF 4  /O 2  /He, the process is readily adaptable to selectively etch both doped and undoped polysilicon formed over silicon dioxide underlayers using NF 3  /SiF 4  /O 2  /C n  H y  F x  X z  reactive gases; to selectively etch tungsten over silicon dioxide underlayers using NF 3  /SiF 4  /O 2  /C n  H y  F x  X z  reactive gases; and to selectively etch single crystal silicon, both doped and undoped, with high selectivity to underlying silicon dioxide and/or a silicon dioxide mask using NF 3  /SiF 4  /O 2 . One such application is single crystal silicon trench etching. Also, it may be possible to extend the process to planar deposition of plasma silicon dioxides over polysilicon or aluminum lines using deposition and etch back. Planar deposition of silicon dioxide could be used for device passivation. The batch in-situ multi-step process capabilities of the AME 8100 and the AME 8300 reactive ion etch systems could be successfully applied to the present invention to manufacture one megabit and larger buried capacitor designs. Other applications include the isotropic removal of organic materials (such as photoresist and polyimides) for profile control using multi-step contouring approaches.