MEMS-Based Measurement of the Ion Angle Distribution for Sustainable Semiconductor Dry Etching

Abstract:
Rapidly growing demand for microchips in smartphones, data centers, and AI accelerators has made manufacturing increasingly energy- and resource-intensive. Dry etching processes use fluorinated hydrocarbons (e.g., SF6, CF4, NF3) with global warming potentials up to 22,800 and atmospheric lifetimes up to 10,000 years. NF3 is most widely used for chamber cleaning because industrial plasmas cannot be sufficiently characterized or controlled. As a result, clean baseline conditions must be re-established through cleaning cycles and multiple control wafers. To reduce this overhead, novel, miniaturizable characterization methods are needed, ideally integrated onto an autonomous, wafer-like sensor platform. The developed MEMS sensor for measuring the ion angle distribution function precisely meets these requirements.