Patterning of SU-8 resist structures using CF4

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Title: Patterning of SU-8 resist structures using CF4
Author(s): Vora, K. D.; Holland, A. S.; Grantasala, M. K.; Mitchell, A.
Abstract: Carbon Tetraflouride (CF4) plasma etching condition for SU-8 negative photoresist is characterized for its potential applications in photonics and bioMEMS. The effects of main plasma etching parameters such as rf power, gas flow rate, chamber pressure and time were systematically studied and the parameters were optimized by a three-level, L9 orthogonal array of the Taguchi method. By optimization, the optimal parameter range and the weighted percent of each parameter on the final results i.e. depth, surface roughness and wall angle were determined. Photoresist & metal were used and compared as masks for plasma etching. The minimum feature size was 1μm in both cases. Results indicated that with the increase of rf power, etch rate and roughness increases almost linearly. With increase in gas flow rate, etch rate increases while roughness decreases non-linearly. Etch rate is linear with time but roughness is significantly dependent on time initially. The side-wall angle of the samples with metal mask was found to be nearly 90 degrees whereas samples with photoresist as the mask showed poor side-wall angle and surface roughness mainly due to poor mask-resist selectivity. Optimized values of rf power, gas flow rate, time and pressure were found to be 200W, 240sccm, 20minutes and 1Torr respectively, which yielded high etch rate (80nm/min), low surface roughness (5nm) and nearly vertical side-walls (89 degrees).
Publication type: Conference paper
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology
Source: Proceedings of the SPIE Device and Process Technologies for MEMS, Microelectronics, and Photonics III Conference, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, 10 December 2003 / J. C. Chiao, A. J. Hariz, D. N. Jamieson, G. Parish and V. K. Varadan (eds.), Vol. 5276, pp. 162-172
Publication year: 2004
Keyword(s): CF4; Etch rates; Reactive plasma etching; Side-wall angles; SU-8; Surface roughness; Taguchi optimization
Publisher: SPIE
ISBN: 0277-786X
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.523903
Peer reviewed