Tailoring New Etch Gases to Challenging Applications
ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, the semiconductor industry has achieved remarkable advances in dry etch capability largely through the continuous innovation of etch tool hardware. These tool-driven innovations have been instrumental in pushing device scaling. However, hardware innovation alone can no longer deliver the breakthroughs required. The next step-change in etch performance must come from the chemistry side.
New-generation etch gases are needed to create value across multiple dimensions. From a process standpoint, etching is a critical technology enabler for next-generation memory devices, where the ability to achieve precise, damage-free high-aspect-ratio features is becoming the key differentiator. Beyond process performance, the industry faces an equally urgent imperative to reduce the environmental footprint of fab operations. Fluorinated carbon etch gases represent a significant and addressable source of greenhouse gas emissions. Future etchants must therefore be designed with sustainability at their core, combining high plasma reactivity with excellent abatability and minimal equivalent CO₂ output per wafer.
This session will examine the process performance and sustainability characteristics of several new etch gases covering different applications such as back-end dielectrics and TSV etching. Methods and tools for evaluating new molecules, along with the many dimensions of performance that a new material must meet will be reviewed to understand the challenges and opportunities that new chemistries bring to dry etching.
BIOGRAPHY
Biography coming soon!