Plasma beam etching (dry etching)

Usually refers to the use of glow discharge methods to generate plasma-active particles containing charged particles such as plasma, electrons, and highly chemically active neutral atoms, molecules, and free radicals to diffuse to the site to be etched and react with the etched material The etching technology that forms the volatile products and is removed to complete the pattern transfer is an irreplaceable process for realizing the high-fidelity transfer of the fine patterns in the production of VLSI from the photolithography template to the wafer.

A large number of active free radicals such as Cl group and F group will be generated. When they etch semiconductor devices, they have a corrosive effect on the inner surface of other parts of the equipment, including aluminum alloy, ceramic structural parts, etc. This strong erosion produces a large number of particles not only resulting in frequent maintenance of production equipment, but also In severe cases, it may even lead to failure of the etching process cavity and damage to the device.

Y2O3 is a material with very stable chemical and thermal properties. It has a melting point far exceeding 2400°C and can remain stable in a strong corrosive environment. Plasma bombardment can greatly extend the service life of components and reduce particles in the etching cavity.

The mainstream solution is to spray high-purity Y2O3 coating to protect the etching chamber and other key components.