Comparison of dry etching of PMMA and polycarbonate in diffusion pump-based O2 capacitively coupled plasma and inductively coupled plasma

Abstract: We report a comparison of dry etching of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC) in O2 capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP). A diffusion pump was used as high vacuum pump in both cases. Experimental variables were process pressure (30–180mTorr), CCP power (25–150W) and ICP power (0–350W). Gas flow rate was fixed at 5sccm. An optimized process pressure range of 40–60mTorr was found for the maximum etch rate of PMMA and PC in both CCP and ICP etch modes. ICP etching produced the highest etch rate of 0.9μm/min for PMMA at 40mTorr, 100W CCP and 300W ICP power, while 100W CCP only plasma produced 0.46μm/min for PMMA at the same condition. For polycarbonate, the highest etch rates were 0.45 and 0.27μm/min, respectively. RMS surface roughnesses of PMMA and PC were about 2–3nm after etching. Etch selectivity of PMMA over photoresist was 1–2 and that of PC was less than 1. When ICP power increased from 0 to 350W, etch rates of PMMA and PC increased linearly from 0.47 to 1.18μm/min and from 0.18 to 0.6μm/min, while the negative self bias slightly reduced from 364 to 352V. Increase of CCP power raised both self bias and PMMA etch rate. PMMA etch rates were about 3 times higher than those of PC at the same CCP conditions. SEM data showed that there was some undercutting of PMMA and PC after etching at 300W ICP, 100W CCP and 40mTorr. The results also showed that the etched surface of PMMA was rough and that of PC was relatively smooth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]