%0 Journal Article
%T Dry Etching of ITO Thin Films by the Addition of Gases in Cl2/BCl3 Inductivity Coupled Plasma
%A Young-Hee Joo
%A Jong-Chang Woo
%A Kyung-Rok Choi
%A Han-Soo Kim
%J Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
%D 2012
%I Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers (KIEEME)
%X In this study, we investigated the etching characteristics of ITO thin films and the effects of inert gases added to Cl2/BCl3 inductivity coupled plasma. The maximum etch rate of ITO thin film was 130.0 nm/min upon the addition of Ar(6 sccm) to the Cl2/BCl3 (4:16 sccm) plasma, which was higher than that with He or N2 added to the plasma. The ionbombardment by Ar+ sputtering was due to the relatively low volatility of the by-products formed in the Cl2/BCl3 (4:16sccm) plasma. The surface of the etched ITO thin film was characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)and atomic force microscopy (AFM). From the XPS results, it is concluded that the proper addition of Ar and He to theCl2/BCl3 plasma removes carbon and by-products from the surface of the etched ITO thin film.
%K ITO
%K Cl2/BCl3
%K Inert gas
%K N2
%K XPS
%K AFM
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.4313/TEEM.2012.13.3.157