Re: Good etch recipe for Ta?

Mihir,

Ta can be dry etched in fluorine base chemistries. So the poly-si etch recipe (F124(C2ClF5)/ SF6) in the Dryteks should work. CF4 should also work. In the MRC, again I would try the poly etch ( F124/SF6).

Jim

James (Jim) P. McVittie, Ph.D. Sr. Research Scientist
Paul G. Allen Building Electrical Engineering
Stanford Nanofabrication Facility jmcvittie@stanford.edu
Stanford University Office: (650) 725-3640
Rm. 336X, 330 Serra Mall Lab: (650) 721-6834
Stanford, CA 94305-4075 Fax: (650) 723-4659

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mihir Tendulkar" <mihirt@stanford.edu>
To: "labmembers" <labmembers@snf.stanford.edu>
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2011 11:15:39 PM
Subject: Good etch recipe for Ta?

Hi labmembers,

I'm using a structure with a Ta top layer. I've patterned it with SPR-955 and attempted to dry etch it using the Ar milling recipe developed on the MRC.

The milling is mostly trashing my resist instead of etching the Ta. I suspect there is a protective TaOx layer inhibiting the etch. Has anyone found a reactive etch that works for this metal?

--
Mihir Tendulkar
Applied Physics PhD Candidate
Nishi Group, Stanford University