Investigation of ion-electron emission in the process of reactive ion-beam etching of dielectric thin film heterostructures

Abstract

This work presents a series of experimental studies to confirm the main theoretical aspects of ionelectron emission and it searches for the possibility of the practical implementation of the operative control method of reactive ion-beam etching processes of different dielectric thin film materials of electronic engineering. The series of experiments was carried out to study the electron emission on the specially formed thinfilm multilayer heterocompositions of Si₃N₄/Si, Ta₂O₅/Al/Si, and Al/TiO₂/Si. The evaluation of the effect of the induced surface potential in the dielectric film on the integral signal of the secondary electrons at reactive ion-beam etching was carried out. The dependence of the emission properties of thin dielectric films on the electric field generated in the dielectric by the surface potential induced by ion beam during reactive ionbeam etching was established. It is noted that the current level of secondary electrons from the surface of dielectric films deposited on the substrates of different materials differ in magnitude; i.e., it is determined by the substrate emission properties. It is shown that the electric field strength arising in the dielectric film under the influence of the induced potential creates the conditions for the emergence of Malter’s emission determined by the properties of its own dielectric and substrate.