DOE study on etching rate of silicon nitride (Si3N4) layer via RIE nitride etching process

Abstract

In the electronic device fabrication, etching is one of the important processes to do. For this work, the dry etching was done to silicon nitride layer under a CF4 / O2 gas mixture using reactive ion etching (RIE) process has been investigated. This etching process was carried out at a room temperature with gas pressure of 500 mTorr, RF power of 60-80 W, O2 and CF4 flow rate of 5-10 sccm and 40-50 sccm respectively. From the process, a statistical method of Design of Experiment (DOE) Pro XL software was utilized for appropriate analysis.