Inductively-Coupled Nitrous-Oxide Plasma Etching of Parylene-C Films

Abstract

In this article, we report results obtained from a study carried out on inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) etching of poly-monochloro-para-xylylene (parylene-C) thin films using N2O gas. The effects of the process parameters on the etch rate were investigated and are discussed in this work in terms of plasma parameter measurement performed using a Langmuir probe and modeling calculations. Process parameters of interest include the ICP source power and bias power. Oxygen atoms O(P-3) were shown to be the major etching agent of polymer. At the same time, we propose that while positive ions are not an effective etchant, they play an important role as an effective channel of energy transfer from the plasma to the polymer.