{"title":"Simultaneous Micro- and Nanoscale Silicon Fabrication by Metal-Assisted Chemical Etch","authors":"Raul Lema Galindo, P. Ajay, S. V. Sreenivasan","doi":"10.1115/1.4062167","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n Simultaneous micro and nanoscale etching of silicon on a wafer-scale is nowadays performed using plasma etching techniques. These plasma techniques, however, suffer from low throughput due to Aspect-Ratio Dependent Etch (ARDE) rate, etch lag from changes in feature size, loading effects from increased etch area, and undesirable surface characteristics such as sidewall taper and scalloping, which are particularly problematic at the nanoscale and can affect the etch uniformity. Additionally, the hardware required for plasma etching can be very expensive. A potential alternative, which addresses the above issues with plasma etching is Metal Assisted Chemical Etch (MacEtch). To date, however, an integrated micro and nanoscale MacEtch process, which has uniform and clean (i.e. without nanowire-like defects in microscale areas) etch front has not been presented in the literature. In this work, we present for the first time a feasible process flow for simultaneous micro and nanoscale silicon etching without nanowire-like defects, which we call Integrated Micro- and Nanoscale MacEtch (IMN-MacEtch). Successful etching of silicon features ranging from 100 nm to 100 µm was achieved with etch rates of about 1.8 µm/min in a single step to achieve features with an Aspect Ratio (AR) ~18:1. We thus conclude that the process represents a feasible alternative to current dry etch methods for patterning feature sizes spanning three orders of magnitude.","PeriodicalId":45459,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4062167","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, MANUFACTURING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Simultaneous micro and nanoscale etching of silicon on a wafer-scale is nowadays performed using plasma etching techniques. These plasma techniques, however, suffer from low throughput due to Aspect-Ratio Dependent Etch (ARDE) rate, etch lag from changes in feature size, loading effects from increased etch area, and undesirable surface characteristics such as sidewall taper and scalloping, which are particularly problematic at the nanoscale and can affect the etch uniformity. Additionally, the hardware required for plasma etching can be very expensive. A potential alternative, which addresses the above issues with plasma etching is Metal Assisted Chemical Etch (MacEtch). To date, however, an integrated micro and nanoscale MacEtch process, which has uniform and clean (i.e. without nanowire-like defects in microscale areas) etch front has not been presented in the literature. In this work, we present for the first time a feasible process flow for simultaneous micro and nanoscale silicon etching without nanowire-like defects, which we call Integrated Micro- and Nanoscale MacEtch (IMN-MacEtch). Successful etching of silicon features ranging from 100 nm to 100 µm was achieved with etch rates of about 1.8 µm/min in a single step to achieve features with an Aspect Ratio (AR) ~18:1. We thus conclude that the process represents a feasible alternative to current dry etch methods for patterning feature sizes spanning three orders of magnitude.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Micro and Nano-Manufacturing provides a forum for the rapid dissemination of original theoretical and applied research in the areas of micro- and nano-manufacturing that are related to process innovation, accuracy, and precision, throughput enhancement, material utilization, compact equipment development, environmental and life-cycle analysis, and predictive modeling of manufacturing processes with feature sizes less than one hundred micrometers. Papers addressing special needs in emerging areas, such as biomedical devices, drug manufacturing, water and energy, are also encouraged. Areas of interest including, but not limited to: Unit micro- and nano-manufacturing processes; Hybrid manufacturing processes combining bottom-up and top-down processes; Hybrid manufacturing processes utilizing various energy sources (optical, mechanical, electrical, solar, etc.) to achieve multi-scale features and resolution; High-throughput micro- and nano-manufacturing processes; Equipment development; Predictive modeling and simulation of materials and/or systems enabling point-of-need or scaled-up micro- and nano-manufacturing; Metrology at the micro- and nano-scales over large areas; Sensors and sensor integration; Design algorithms for multi-scale manufacturing; Life cycle analysis; Logistics and material handling related to micro- and nano-manufacturing.