Photo-assisted etching of silicon in chlorine- and bromine-containing plasmas

Cl2, Br2, HBr, Br2/Cl2, and HBr/Cl2 feed gases diluted in Ar (50%–50% by volume) were used to study etching of p-type Si(100) in a rf inductively coupled, Faraday-shielded plasma, with a focus on the photo-assisted etching component. Etching rates were measured as a function of ion energy. Etching at ion energies below the threshold for ion-assisted etching was observed in all cases, with Br2/Ar and HBr/Cl2/Ar plasmas having the lowest and highest sub-threshold etching rates, respectively. Sub-threshold etching rates scaled with the product of surface halogen coverage (measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and Ar emission intensity (7504 Å). Etching rates measured under MgF2, quartz, and opaque windows showed that sub-threshold etching is due to photon-stimulated processes on the surface, with vacuum ultraviolet photons being much more effective than longer wavelengths. Scanning electron and atomic force microscopy revealed that photo-etched surfaces were very rough, quite likely due to the inability of the photo-assisted process to remove contaminants from the surface. Photo-assisted etching in Cl2/Ar plasmas resulted in the formation of 4-sided pyramidal features with bases that formed an angle of 45 with respect to h110i cleavage planes, suggesting that photo-assisted etching can be sensitive to crystal orientation. VC 2014 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4878895]