Method of etching material film formed on semiconductor wafer using surface wave coupled plasma etching apparatus

摘要

A method of etching a material film formed on a semiconductor wafer loaded onto a reaction chamber of a surface wave coupled plasma etching apparatus having an insulation plate which is capable of generating surface waves by microwaves, and a glass plate placed below the insulation plate, for transmitting the produced surface waves. In the method, the glass plate is rapidly pre-heated by generating an argon (Ar) or xenon (Xe) surface wave coupled plasma which has a high ion density and a large mass, and the material layer is then etched. Therefore, the preheating time of the glass plate can be sharply reduced to less than five minutes. Also, because the etching gas is not used for the heating of the glass, damage to the glass plate can be reduced and generation of polymer on the glass plate is suppressed with an improved etching efficiency, so that failure in etching can also be avoided.