Development of a bond contribution model for structure: property correlations in dry etch studies

Plasma (dry) etching is a key step in semiconductor device manufacturing processes whereby the resist pattern is transferred to a substrate. As the resist thickness is reduced to meet stringent transparency requirements in photolithography, the usage of fast etching material as BARC is considered to be increasingly critical in minimizing resist thickness loss in pattern transfer steps. Several models emphasizing correlation between polymeric structure and etch resistance based on empirical parameters have been developed but are hard to generalize. We have examined the reactive ion etch (RIE) properties of a variety of polymer groups including natural polymers, poly(styrenic)s, poly(acrylate)s, poly(olefin)s, poly(ester)s and several polymers grafted with UV light absorbing chromophores. With the assumption that in the etching processes the reactive species from plasma attack the polymeric materials at a molecular level instead of an atomic level, we have developed a model based on the contribution of chemical bonds in the polymer structure to predict etch rates. The present study shows that this model revealed marked correlations across polymer families for three different etch processes. This model has also proved to be an effective tool in predicting the etch behavior of polymers for use in BARCs.