Specific Process Knowledge/Etch/Etching of Aluminium

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Etching of Aluminium

Etching of aluminium can be done either by wet etch, dry etch or by sputtering with ions.

• Etching of Al by wet etch
• Etching of Al by dry etch
• Sputtering of Al

Comparison of Aluminium Etch Methods

	Al wet etch 1	Al wet etch 2	Developer TMAH manual	ICP metal	IBE (Ionfab300+)
Generel description	Wet etch of pure Al	Wet etch of Al + 1.5% Si	Wet etch/removal: TMAH Mainly used for removing Al on e-beam resist after e-beam exposure, see process flow here	Dry plasma etch of Al	Sputtering of Al - pure physical etch
Etch rate range	~100nm/min (pure Al)	~60nm/min (Al+1.5% Si)	~0.5nm/min (pure Al)	~350 nm/min (depending on features size and etch load)	~30nm/min (not tested yet)
Etch profile	Isotropic	Isotropic	Isotropic	Anisotropic (vertical sidewalls)	Anisotropic (angles sidewalls, typical around 70 dg)
Substrate size	#1-25 100 mm wafers	#1-25 100 mm wafers	Chips (6-60 mm) 100 mm wafers 150 mm wafers	smaller pieces on a carrier wafer #1 100mm wafers (when set up to 100mm wafers) #1 150mm wafers (when set up to 150mm wafers)	Smaller pieces glued to carrier wafer #1 50mm wafer #1 100mm wafer #1 150mm wafer #1 200mm wafer
Allowed materials	Aluminium Silicon Silicon Oxide Silicon Nitride Silicon Oxynitride Photoresist E-beam resist	Aluminium Silicon Silicon Oxide Silicon Nitride Silicon Oxynitride Photoresist E-beam resist	Every thing that is allowed in the Developer: TMAH Manual	Silicon Quartz/fused silica Photoresist/e-beam resist PolySilicon, Silicon oxide Silicon (oxy)nitride Aluminium Titanium Chromium	Silicon Silicon oxides Silicon nitrides Metals from the +list Metals from the -list Alloys from the above list Stainless steel Glass III-V materials Resists Polymers Capton tape