Anisotropic etching of amorphous perfluoropolymer films in oxygen-based inductively coupled plasmas

Abstract

An amorphous perfluoropolymer, "Cytop" (Asahi Glass Co., Ltd.), is a preferable material for the fabrication of micro total analysis system devices because of its superior optical transparency over a wide wavelength range and low refractive index of 1.34, which is almost the same as that of water, as well as excellent chemical stability. To establish the precise microfabrication technology for this unique resin, the dry etching of the amorphous perfluoropolymer in Ar/ O2 low-pressure inductively coupled plasma has been studied. A relatively high etch rate of approximately 6.3 μm/min at maximum and highly anisotropic etched features was attained. Plasma measurements by a single Langmuir probe technique and actinometry revealed that etching is dominated by ion-assisted surface desorption above a 10% O 2 mixing ratio, whereas the supply of active oxygen species is the rate-limiting process below 10%. Moreover, angled x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements of an etched trench pattern revealed that a high anisotropy is attributed to the formation of a carbon-rich sidewall protection layer. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.