Bulk silicon etching techniques, used to selectively remove silicon from substrates, have been broadly applied in the fabrication of micromachined sensors, actuators, and structures. Despite the more recent emergence of higher resolution, surface-micromachining approaches, the majority of currently shipping silicon sensors are made using bulk etching. Particularly in light of newly introduced dry etching methods compatible with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductors, it is unlikely that bulk micromachining will decrease in popularity in the near future. The available etching methods fall into three categories in terms of the state of the etchant: wet, vapor, and plasma. For each category, the available processes are reviewed and compared in terms of etch results, cost, complexity, process compatibility, and a number of other factors. In addition, several example micromachined structures are presented.

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Bulk micromachining of silicon

Trap creation in both the bulk of silicon dioxide films and at its interfaces with silicon and metallic contacting electrodes is shown to depend on the presence of hot electrons in the oxide. For thick oxides (≥100 A), little trap creation is observed in the near‐thermal transport regime at electric field magnitudes less than 1.5 MV/cm. At these low fields, electrons travel in a streaming fashion close to the bottom of the oxide conduction band at energies less than that of the dominant optical phonon mode at 0.153 eV. At higher electric fields, the rate of bulk trap creation is proportional to the average energy of the hot electrons, which move in a dispersive manner and can reach energies as large as 4 eV. For thin oxides (<100 A) where electrons can travel ballistically (i.e., without scattering), traps are not produced unless injected electrons acquire more than 2 eV of kinetic energy from the applied electric field, regardless of the magnitude of this field. All data on both thin and thick oxides are shown to give a threshold for trap creation of about 2.3 eV by the hot electrons in the oxide conduction band. Also, trap creation is shown to be suppressed by lowering the lattice temperature below ≊150 K. Our results are discussed in terms of a model involving hydrogen‐related‐species release from defect sites near the anode by the hot electrons and the subsequent motion of these molecules to regions near the cathode where they can interact with the lattice and form the trapping sites which are measured.

Trap creation in silicon dioxide produced by hot electrons

In this paper, we present a model for silicon dioxide breakdown characterization, valid for a thickness range between 25 /spl Aring/ and 130 /spl Aring/, which provides a method for predicting dielectric lifetime for reduced power supply voltages and aggressively scaled oxide thicknesses. This model, based on hole injection from the anode, accurately predicts Q/sub BD/ and t/sub BD/ behavior including a fluence in excess of 10/sup 7/ C/cm/sup 2/ at an oxide voltage of 2.4 V for a 25 /spl Aring/ oxide. Moreover, this model is a refinement of and fully complementary with the well known 1/E model, while offering the ability to predict oxide reliability for low voltages. >

Hole injection SiO/sub 2/ breakdown model for very low voltage lifetime extrapolation

Leakage currents introduced in the low‐field, direct‐tunneling regime of thin oxides during high‐field stress are related to defects produced by hot‐electron transport in the oxide layer. From these studies, it is concluded that the ‘‘generation’’ of neutral electron traps in thin oxides is the dominant cause of this phenomenon. Other mechanisms due to anode hole injection or oxide nonuniformities are shown to be unrealistic for producing these currents. Exposure of thin oxides to atomic hydrogen from a remote plasma is shown to cause leakage currents similar to those observed after high‐field stress, supporting the conclusion that these currents are related to hydrogen‐induced defects.

Mechanism for stress-induced leakage currents in thin silicon dioxide films

Chemical and electronic structure of the SiO2/Si interface

Thin‐oxide (40–50 A) metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) structures are shown to exhibit, prior to large levels of electron tunnel injection, the near‐ideal behavior predicted for a uniform trapezoidal barrier with thick‐oxide properties. The oscillatory field dependence due to electron‐wave interference at the Si/SiO2 interface indicates an abrupt, one‐monolayer barrier transition (∼2.5 A) consistent with earlier work. After tunnel injection of 1017 –5×1018 electrons/cm2, the barrier undergoes significant degradation leading to enhanced tunneling conductance, with reproducible behavior observed among different samples. This effect is consistent with the generation of positive states in the region of the oxide near the Si/SiO2 interface (<20 A), where the tunneling electrons emerge into the oxide conduction band. Densities of positive‐charge and interface‐state buildup are also observed from capacitance‐voltage (C‐V) measurements and are found to be consistent with the observed tunneling dependence on positiv...

Behavior of the Si/SiO2 interface observed by Fowler-Nordheim tunneling

Oscillatory deviations from Fowler-Nordheim tunneling currents were measured in MOS capacitors with oxide thicknesses ranging from 30 to 75 A. The observed variation of oscillation phases and amplitudes with oxide thickness indicates that the Si-SiO2 interface is independent of oxide thickness only for thicknesses greater than 65 A. At lower thicknesses, the barrier height at the interface decreases gradually with oxide thickness at a rate on the order of 10 mV/A. At higher thicknesses, the barrier height is 4.08 eV. The energy dispersion relation with the SiO2 conduction band is parabolic. The mean free path within the SiO2 conduction band is on the order of 13 A.

Oscillations in MOS tunneling

We report on the first nondestructive measurement of the chemical and physical characteristics of the interface between bulk SiO2 and thick aluminum films. Both x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrical measurements of unannealed, resistively evaporated Al films on thermal SiO2 indicate an atomically abrupt interface. Post metallization annealing (PMA) at 450 °C induces reduction of the SiO2 by the aluminum, at a rate consistent with the bulk reaction rate. The XPS measurement is performed from the SiO2 side after the removal of the Si substrate with XeF2 gas and thinning of the SiO2 layer with HF:ETOH. This represents a powerful new approach to the study of metal‐insulator and related interfaces.

A novel X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of the Al/SiO2 interface

TEM and cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging and spectroscopy have been performed on In(0.2)Ga(0.8)As/GaAs MQW structures. Cross-sectional and plan-view TEM demonstrates that misfit dislocations (MDs) are confined to the MQW-to-GaAs interfacial regions. The observed large variation in the exciton luminescence intensity is interpreted as due to the presence of nonradiative recombination centers spread homogeneously in the MQW region away from interface MDs. These nonradiative recombination centers compete with exciton and midgap radiative centers at wavelengths of 950 nm and 1000-1600 nm, respectively, resulting in spatiallty correlated dark line defects for all CL imaging wavelengths.

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Cathodoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy study of dark line defects in thick In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs multiple quantum wells

We have examined the effects of electron‐hole plasma generation on excitonic absorption phenomena in nipi‐doped In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs multiple quantum wells (MQWs) using a novel technique called electron beam‐induced absorption modulation imaging. The electron‐hole plasma is generated by a high‐energy electron beam in a scanning electron microscope and is used as a probe to study the MQW absorption modulation. The influence of structural defects on the diffusive transport of carriers is imaged with a μm‐scale resolution.

J. Maserjian

Papers

Behavior of the Si/SiO2 interface observed by Fowler-Nordheim tunneling

Oscillations in MOS tunneling

A novel X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of the Al/SiO2 interface

Cathodoluminescence and transmission electron microscopy study of dark line defects in thick In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs multiple quantum wells

Electron beam‐induced absorption modulation imaging of strained In0.2Ga0.8As/GaAs multiple quantum wells