Specific Process Knowledge/Etch/AOE (Advanced Oxide Etch)

Etching using the dry etch technique AOE (Advanced oxide etch)

The AOE positioned at DANCHIP is owned by the company Hymite who is a user of the DANCHIP laboratory. The system is free (with charge) to use for every user of the cleanroom but we cannot guarantee this to be the case in the future. The AOE can be used for etching silicon oxide, silicon (oxy)nitride and quartz. Look in the manuals for the AOE to see how to operate the machine (you can find the manuals in LabManager [1]).

Process information

Etch of Silicon Oxide using AOE

A rough overview of the performance of AOE and some process related parameters

Purpose	Dry etch of	Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Quartz
Performance	Etch rates	~0.2-0.6 µm/min
Performance	Anisotropy	Typical profiles: 86-90 degrees
Process parameter range	Process pressure	~2-20 mTorr
Process parameter range	Gas flows	C $_{4}$ F $_{8}$ : 0-40 sccm O $_{2}$ : 0-100 sccm CF $_{4}$ : 0-100 sccm H $_{2}$ : 0-30 sccm He: 0-500 sccm N $_{2}$ : 0-1000 sccm
Substrates	Batch size	1 6" wafer per run (only when the system is setup to 6" 1 4" wafer per run 1 2" wafer per run (needs carrier) Or several smaller pieces (needs carrier)
	Substrate material allowed	Silicon with layers of silicon oxide or silicon (oxy)nitride Quartz wafers
	Possible masking material	Photoresist/e-beam resist Silicon/PolySi Aluminium