Etching of SiC in Low Power Inductively-Coupled Plasma

Abstract

The peculiarities of etching 4H silicon carbide (4H-SiC) in F-containing inductively-coupled plasma at lowered values of power absorbed in an RF discharge are considered. The application of the initial SF₆/O₂ mixture yielded the most promising results in order to achieve a defect-free morphology of the etching surface of SiC. The influence of bias voltage applied to the substrate holder on the etching rate is identified. The maximum rate of etching in our experiments was 840 nm/min. It is shown that the additional treatment of SiC surface in Ar plasma positively affects the morphology of the etching surface, minimizing the surface density of various defects.