III-V Etcher and Atomic Layer Etching (ALE): Oxford Instruments PlasmaPro 100 Cobra 300 ICP-RIE with ALE

Cobra III-V Etcher with ALE Instrument Type Etching Techniques III-V Semiconductor Etching Atomic Layer Etching Staff Manager Kelly McKenzie Staff Email kmmckenz@caltech.edu Staff Phone 626-395-5732 Reserve time on FBS Request training via FBS User Dashboard Lab Location B235 Steele Lab Phone 626-395-1532 Manufacturer Oxford Instruments Model PlasmaPro 100 Cobra

Description

The Cobra inductively-coupled plasma reactive-ion etcher (ICP-RIE) with ALE is an Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology PlasmaPro 100 Cobra 300 system that is optimized for the etching of compound semiconductors and also features an ALE gas dose kit. In addition to a wide range of gases for etching a variety of III-V materials, this system is also configured with an atomic layer etching gas dose kit enabling controlled pulses of gas doses down to 10ms over a table temperature range of -150 to 400 °C. The system is also available for etching of more novel optical materials such as lithium niobate. This system supports wafer sizes up to 6 inches.

Applications

• III-V material etch
• Lithium niobate etch
• Atomic layer etch

Allowed Material in Etcher

• Etch materials: Si, Si_xN_y, SiO₂, Ge, InP, GaAs, GaN, Nb, LiNbO₃, YVO₄, MgB₂, BaTiO₃
• Masks: PMMA/ZEP/SPR/AZ/maN resists, SiO₂/Al₂O₃, Cr hard masks
• Other: Metal in etch stack (not exposed to plasma)

Etching Gas List

• SF₆
• O₂
• Ar
• Cl₂
• BCl₃
• CH₄
• H₂
• HBr
• SiCl₄

Resources

SOPs & Troubleshooting

• General Use SOP
• Oxfords reservation and use policy
• Etcher toxic gas handling SOP
• Power Up Oxford ICP-RIE SOP
• Gas Status Board SOP

Process Documents

• Process Standards
• Aluminum Etch via Chlorine/Methane/Hydrogen (KNI Recipe)
• AlGaN/GaN Etch with Photoresist Mask
• InP Etch
• InP/ InGaAsP Laser Facet ICP Etching
• GaAs Via Hole Etch
• Selective GaAs Etch
• Silicon Waveguide Etch
• Silicon Nitride etch
• Hard Mask Oxide Etch
• Cryo-Si Etch
• Etch chamber cleaning recipes
• Comparison of etch rates using different sample-fixing oils
• Comparison of Pseudo-Bosch ICP-RIE Etch of SiO2-SiNx
• Al2O3 Etch in Oxford ICP and Plasmatherm RIE

Review Articles

• Guidelines for Etching Silicon MEMS Structures
• Etch rates for MEMS Processing - Part I
• Etch Rates for MEMS Processing - Part II
• Dry Etching of Electronic Oxides, Polymers, and Semiconductors
• Alumina etch masks for fabrication of high-aspect-ratio silicon micropillars and nanopillars
• David Henry's thesis on dry etching in the KNI's tools

Manufacturer Manuals

• Oxford III-V Metal Etcher System Manual (login to LabRunr required)
• Edwards QDP 80 dry vacuum pump Manual

Specifications

Manufacturer Specifications

• Manufacturer Data Sheet

System Features

• Universal base console that houses the electronic sub systems, control units, pneumatics, and turbomolecular pump
• PC 2000 Operating system
• ICP process chamber with 200 mm pumping port, view port and end-point-detection ports for optical emission spectrometer and laser interferometer
• Variable height 240 mm Cryo RIE electrode
• Parameter ramping software (Not Bosch)
• 100-mTorr, temperature-stabilized capacitance manometer for process control with an active penning gauge for base pressure measurement
• 200 mm pumping port is fitted with a 200 mm variable gate valve for chamber isolation and process pressure control
• Twelve line gas pod with three non-toxic and six toxic digital mass-flow-controlled gas lines
• Alcatel 1300 l/s MAGLEV turbo pump
• Single-wafer automatic insertion load lock with soft pump option

System Specifications

• Chamber wall heating 80 °C
• Cryo table range -140 to 400 °C
• ICP 380 mm remote high-density plasma source with 5 kW RF generator and automatic matching unit close-coupled to the source
• Substrate bias control by 30 / 300 W RIE source
• Helium back-side wafer cooling

Related Tools

• Oxford Dielectric ICP-RIE
• Oxford DRIE ICP-RIE
• Plasma-Therm RIE
• XeF2 Etcher
• Oxford PECVD
• Oxford ALD