Etching compositions and methods for using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10400167-B2
Application number	US-201615357527-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 21, 2016
Priority date	Nov 25, 2015
Publication date	Sep 3, 2019
Grant date	Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

A composition and method using same useful for etching a semiconductor substrate comprising: from about 25 to 86% by weight of water; from about 0 to about 60% by weight of a water-miscible organic solvent; from about 1 to about 30% by weight of a base comprising a quartenary ammonium compound; from about 1 to about 50% by weight of an amine compound wherein the amine compound is selected from the group consisting of a secondary amine, a tertiary amine, and mixtures thereof; from about 0 to about 5% by weight of a buffering agent; from about 0 to about 15% by weight of a corrosion inhibitor.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A composition useful for etching a semiconductor substrate comprising in effective etching amounts:
from about 25 to 66% by weight of water;
from about 0 to about 60% by weight of a water-miscible organic solvent selected from propylene glycol, tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol, diacetone alcohol and 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol;
from about 1 to about 30% by weight of a quaternary ammonium compound selected from benzyltrimethylammonium hydroxide and ethyltrimethylammonium hydroxide (ETMAH);
from about 1 to about 50% by weight of an amine compound wherein the amine compound is selected from monoethanol amine (MEA), triethanolamine (TEA), diethanolamine, N-methyl diethanolamine, diisopropanolamine, aminoethyl ethanol amine (AEE), N-methyl ethanol amine, and mixtures thereof;
from about 0 to about 5% by weight of a buffering agent; and
from about 0 to about 15% by weight of a corrosion inhibitor;
wherein the composition is free of alkali hydroxides;

wherein said etching composition provides a sigma-shaped profile.

2. The composition of claim 1 comprising:
from about 30 to 46% by weight of said water;
from about 10 to about 50% by weight of said water-miscible organic solvent;
from about 2 to about 6% by weight of said quaternary ammonium compound; and
from about 10 to about 50% by weight of said amine compound wherein said etching composition provides a sigma-shaped profile with a (110)/(100) selectivity ratio of about 0.3 or more.

3. The composition of claim 1 useful for etching a semiconductor substrate comprising in effective etching amounts:
from about 32 to 42% by weight of said water;
from about 20 to about 40% by weight of said water-miscible organic solvent;
from about 3 to about 5% by weight of said quaternary ammonium compound; and
from about 20 to about 40% by weight of said amine compound;

wherein said etching composition provides a sigma-shaped profile with a (110)/(100) selectivity ratio of greater than 0.3.

4. The composition of claim 3 useful for etching a semiconductor substrate comprising in effective etching amounts:
from about 34 to 40% by weight of said water;
from about 25 to about 35% by weight of said water-miscible organic solvent; and
from about 25 to about 35% by weight of said amine compound.

5. The composition of claim 1 useful for etching a semiconductor substrate comprising in effective etching amounts:
from about 56 to 66% by weight of water;
from about 1 to about 7% by weight of a quaternary ammonium compound; and
from about 30 to about 40% by weight of the amine compound;

wherein said etching composition is substantially free of water-miscible organic solvent and provides a sigma-shaped profile with a (110)/(100) selectivity ratio of about 0.3 or more.

6. The composition of claim 5 useful for etching a semiconductor substrate comprising in effective etching amounts:
from about 60 to 64% by weight of said water;
from about 2 to about 6% by weight of said quaternary ammonium compound; and
from about 32 to about 38% by weight of said amine compound.

7. The composition of claim 1 useful for etching a semiconductor substrate comprising in effective etching amounts:
from about 45 to 62% by weight of said water;
from about 2 to about 6% by weight of said quaternary ammonium compound;
from about 5 to about 35% by weight of said amine compound; and
from about 5 to about 30% by weight of a water-miscible organic solvent;

wherein said etching composition provides a sigma-shaped profile in said substrate with a (110)/(100) selectivity ratio of about 0.3 or more.

8. The composition of claim 7 useful for etching a semiconductor substrate comprising in effective etching amounts:
from about 49 to 60% by weight of said water;
from about 3 to about 5% by weight of said quaternary ammonium compound;
from about 10 to about 30% by weight of said amine compound; and
from about 5 to about 25% by weight of a water-miscible organic solvent;

wherein said etching composition provides a sigma-shaped profile in said substrate with a (110)/(100) selectivity ratio of about 0.3 or more.

9. The composition of claim 1 wherein said quaternary ammonium compound comprises benzyltrimethylammonium hydroxide.

10. The composition of claim 9 said amine comprises aminoethyl ethanol amine (AEE).

11. A method for etching a semiconductor substrate comprising:
contacting the semiconductor substrate with a composition comprising in effective etching amounts:
from about 25 to 66% by weight of water;
from about 0 to about 60% by weight of a water-miscible organic solvent selected from propylene glycol, tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol, diacetone alcohol and 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol;
from about 1 to about 30% by weight of a quaternary ammonium compound selected from benzyltrimethylammonium hydroxide and ethyltrimethylammonium hydroxide (ETMAH);
from about 1 to about 50% by weight of an amine compound wherein the amine compound is selected from monoethanol amine (MEA), triethanolamine (TEA), diethanolamine, N-methyl diethanolamine, diisopropanolamine, aminoethyl ethanol amine (AEE), N-methyl ethanol amine, and mixtures thereof;
from about 0 to about 5% by weight of a buffering agent; and
from about 0 to about 15% by weight of a corrosion inhibitor;
wherein the composition is free of alkali hydroxides; and
wherein the contacting step is conducted for a certain time and temperature effective to selectively etch a portion of the substrate and to provide a sigma shaped etch profile.

12. The method of claim 11 comprising contacting the semiconductor substrate with said composition comprising:
from about 30 to 46% by weight of said water;
from about 10 to about 50% by weight of said water-miscible organic solvent;
from about 2 to about 6% by weight of said quaternary ammonium compound; and
from about 10 to about 50% by weight of said amine compound wherein said etching composition provides a sigma-shaped profile with a (110)/(100) selectivity ratio of about 0.3 or more.

13. The method of claim 11 comprising contacting the semiconductor substrate with said composition comprising:
from about 32 to 42% by weight of said water;
from about 20 to about 40% by weight of said water-miscible organic solvent;
from about 3 to about 5% by weight of said quaternary ammonium compound; and
from about 20 to about 40% by weight of said amine compound;

wherein said etching composition provides a sigma-shaped profile with a (110)/(100) selectivity ratio of 0.3 or more.

14. The method of claim 13 comprising contacting the semiconductor substrate with said composition comprising:
from about 34 to 40% by weight of said water;
from about 25 to about 35% by weight of said water-miscible organic solvent; from about 3 to about 5% by weight of said quaternary ammonium compound; and
from about 25 to about 35% by weight of said amine compound.

15. The method of claim 11 comprising contacting the semiconductor substrate with said composition comprising:
from about 56 to 66% by weight of water;
from about 1 to about 7% by weight of a quaternary ammonium compound; and
from about 30 to about 40% by weight of said amine compound;

wherein said etching composition is substantially free of water-miscible organic solvent and provides a sigma-shaped profile with a (110)/(100) selectivity ratio of about 0.3 or more.

16. The method of claim 15 comprising contacting the semiconductor substrate with said composition comprising:
from about 60 to 64% by weight of said water;
from about 2 to

Assignees

• Versum Mat Us Llc

Inventors

• Liu Wen Dar
• Lee Yi-Chia
• Chen Tianniu
• Mebrahtu Thomas
• Wu Aiping
• Tseng Edward Chia Kai
• Parris Gene Everad

Classifications

• H10P50/644 Primary

  Anisotropic liquid etching (H10P50/61 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H10P50/642

  Chemical etching · CPC title

• C09K13/00 Primary

  Etching, surface-brightening or pickling compositions (for glass C03C15/00, {C03C25/66; for mortars, concrete, artificial or natural stone or ceramics C04B41/5338}; for metallic material C23F, C23G1/00, C25F1/00; {for semi-conductors H10P52/40}) · CPC title

• H01L21/30608

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L29/0684

  Electricity · mapped topic