Three step deep reactive ion etch for high density trench etching

Abstract

A three step Deep Reactive Ion Etch (DRIE) process is developed to etch trenches of 10μm wide to a depth of 130μm into silicon with an etch rate of 2.5μm min-1. The aim of this process is to obtain sidewalls with an angle close to 90°. The process allows the etching of multiple trenches with high aspect ratios that are closely placed together. A three step approach is used as opposed to the more conventional two step approach in an attempt to improve the etching selectivity with respect to the masking material. By doing so, a simple AZ6632 positive photoresist could be used instead of the more commonly used metal masks which are harder to remove afterwards. In order to develop this process, four parameters, which are the bias power, processing pressure, step times and number of cycles, are evaluated an optimized on a PlasmaPro 300 Cobra DRIE tool from Oxford Plasma Technology.