View source for Specific Process Knowledge/Etch/ASE (Advanced Silicon Etch)

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[[Category: Equipment |Etch ASE]]
[[Category: Etch (Dry) Equipment|ASE]]
<!--Checked for updates on 28/6-2023 - ok/jmli -->

{{Contentbydryetch}}

= The ASE =

[[image:ASE.jpg|300x300px|right|thumb|STS ASE - positioned in cleanroom B-1. {{photo1}} ]]

Name: M/PLEX ICP - ASE (Advanced Silicon Etcher) <br>
Vendor: STS (now SPTS) <br>
The ASE was the first ICP (Inductively coupled plasma) tool at DTU Nanolab. It was manufactured by STS and is called the ASE (Advanced Silicon Etcher). Originally the main purpose of the ASE was etching of silicon using the Bosch process. However, after the acquisition of the [[Specific Process Knowledge/Etch/DRIE-Pegasus|DRIE-Pegasus]] and the retirement of our old RIE's the ASE will only serve as a "dirty" plasma etcher, etching silicon, Silicon oxide and silicon nitride on wafers with small amount of metals exposed and as a polymer etcher. The rule is that samples with up to 4 cm2 of metal on the surface will be allowed to process. Extra gasses was been added to the machine to allow SiO2 and SiN etching. Using these gasses may affect the conditioning of the chamber and thereby the stability of processes. Any clean processes and sensitive processes should take place in to the DRIEs or elsewhere.
 


In the case of the silicon etching on the ASE, an etch phase with SF<sub>6</sub> and O<sub>2</sub> alternates with a passivation phase with C<sub>4</sub>F<sub>8</sub>.

'''The user manual, quality control procedure and results, user APV(s), technical information and contact information can be found in LabManager:'''

Equipment info in [http://labmanager.dtu.dk/function.php?module=Machine&view=view&mach=105| LabManager]

==Process information==
*[[Specific Process Knowledge/Etch/Etching of Silicon/Si etch using ASE|Etch of Silicon using ASE]]
*[[Specific Process Knowledge/Etch/Etching of Polymer/Polymer Etch by ASE|Etch of polymers using ASE]]
*[[Specific Process Knowledge/Etch/Etching of Silicon Oxide/SiO2 etch using ASE|Etch of SiO2/SiN using ASE]]

==An overview of the performance of the ASE and some process related parameters==

{| border="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" 
|-
!style="background:silver; color:black;" align="left"|Purpose 
|style="background:LightGrey; color:black"|Dry etch of 
|style="background:WhiteSmoke; color:black"|
* Silicon
*Thin layers of Silicon oxide and silicon nitride
* Polymers such as polyimide, PDMS, PMMA, BCB and resists
|-
!style="background:silver; color:black" align="left" valign="top" rowspan="2"|Performance
|style="background:LightGrey; color:black"|Etch rates
|style="background:WhiteSmoke; color:black"|
*Silicon: ~0-15 µm/min (depending on features size and etch load)
*Silicon oxide: <0.1 µm/min
*Silicon nitride: <0.1 µm/min
|-
|style="background:LightGrey; color:black"|Anisotropy
|style="background:WhiteSmoke; color:black"|
*Good 
|-
!style="background:silver; color:black" align="left" valign="top" rowspan="2"|Process parameter range
|style="background:LightGrey; color:black"|Process pressure
|style="background:WhiteSmoke; color:black"|
*~0.1-95 mTorr
|-
|style="background:LightGrey; color:black"|Gas flows
|style="background:WhiteSmoke; color:black"|
*SF<sub>6</sub>: 0-600 sccm
*O<sub>2</sub>: 0-99 sccm
*C<sub>4</sub>F<sub>8</sub>: 0-300 sccm
*Ar: 0-142 sccm
*CF<sub>4</sub>: 0-99.9 sccm
*CHF<sub>3</sub>: 0-99.9 sccm
*H<sub>2</sub>: 0-40 sccm
*He: 0-500 sccm
|-
!style="background:silver; color:black" align="left" valign="top" rowspan="3"|Substrates
|style="background:LightGrey; color:black"|Batch size
|style="background:WhiteSmoke; color:black"|
*1 4" wafer per run
*1 2" wafer per run (requires carrier)
*Or several smaller pieces on a carrier wafer
|-
| style="background:LightGrey; color:black"|Substrate material allowed
|style="background:WhiteSmoke; color:black"|
*Silicon wafers
**with layers of silicon oxide or silicon (oxy)nitride
*Quartz wafers 
|- 
| style="background:LightGrey; color:black"|Possible masking material
|style="background:WhiteSmoke; color:black"|
*Photoresist/e-beam resist
*PolySilicon
*Silicon oxide or silicon (oxy)nitride
*Aluminium
|- 
|}