Technical description

Full equipment name: SPTS Omega c2L

Description:

Omega c2L cluster system supporting two plasma etch chambers (Rapier and Synapse). The cluster system has support for 4, 6 and 8 inch wafers. Standard configuration is 6 inch.

General purpose:
• Dry etching of Silicon in the Rapier Process Module
• Dry etching of SiO2, SiC and SiN in the Synapse Process Module

Technical data and resrictions:
• One loadlock cassette loading system with two process modules (Rapier and Synapse)

1. Rapier Process Module:
  - For silicon etching
  - Gases: SF6, C4F8, N2, Ar, O2

  - Standard recipes: small scallop recipe, fast etch rate recipe, isotropic etch / silicon thinning recipe, polymer strip recipe, tapered sidewall profile recipe, RIE silicon recipe
  - Generally wafers with metal are not allowed in the chamber. Au, Ag and Cu are strictly forbidden.

Description: The Rapier process module is a deep silicon etcher using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching system for etching deep trenches in silicon. The tool uses a fast switching (> = 0.7 seconds) Bosch process that produces sidewall profiles with small scallops with etch rates up to 15 µm per minute. Moreover, non-switched etching can be used to achieve tapered profiles. The Claritas end point detector can minimize the notching of SOI wafer etch as well as control the pre-etch and the post-etch cleaning.

2. Synapse Process Module:
  - For SiO2, SiC and SiN etching
  - Gases: SF6, C4F8, CHF3, CF4, H2, He, Ar, O2

  - Standard recipes: SiO2 etch recipes (PR, p-Si/a-Si, and metal masks), SiN etch recipe, FS-SiC etch recipe, Deep SiC etch recipe
  - Ni and Cr are allowed as metal masks

Description: The SPTS Synapse process module uses a high density plasma source and is designed to etch strongly bonded materials. The process chamber can be heated to 130 ºC to reduce the amount of by-product deposition and improve MTBC. The chamber is also surrounded by permanent magnets which result in a higher plasma density than conventional ICPs. Higher plasma density means higher etch rate of strongly bonded materials.