[labnetwork] Predicting Solid Etch Products

[Emma Anquillare]

Dear Lab network,



First time caller here 😊


I am new to plasma etching, and working to institute better process control in our ICP and RIE etchers in an academic shared use facility. We don’t have the capacity to designate a single etcher for each process, so between our three tools, we essentially have a most-restricted, somewhat restricted, and “dirty” tool. To avoid cross contamination and chamber residue buildup, we have a technician manually scrub out the chambers with IPA every week- usually seeing the most solid residue in our ICP that handles Lithium Niobate milling.


My question is- while many products of etch reactions get pumped away as vapors, what about the reactions that do leave solid residues? Is there a systematic way to predict or look up what solids will be left from common (or unusual) reactions, and know how they will react and interact with other solids and gasses present in your chamber? Especially with such frequent manual cleaning, how do you ensure that you don’t inadvertently open the chamber to something acutely toxic, pyrophoric, shock sensitive, etc?



Very curious to learn what steps people take and tools they use (literature? calculations? databases? forums?)  when approaching this problem, and when asked to allow a new material into a tool.


Best,

Emma

_____________________________________________
Emma Anquillare, PhD
Research Scientist
ASRC Nanofabrication Facility
City University of New York

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