Low oxygen content photoresist stripping process for low dielectric constant materials

34A plasma containing 5-10% oxygen and 90-95% of an inert gas strips photoresist from over a low-k dielectric material formed on or in a semiconductor device. The inert gas may be nitrogen, hydrogen, or a combination thereof, or it may include at least one of nitrogen, hydrogen, NH, Ar, He, and CF....

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors Shieh, Jyu-Horng, Su, Yi-Nien, Tsai, Jang-Shiang, Yeh, Chen-Nan, Tao, Hun-Jan
Format Patent
LanguageEnglish
Published 18.04.2006
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Summary:34A plasma containing 5-10% oxygen and 90-95% of an inert gas strips photoresist from over a low-k dielectric material formed on or in a semiconductor device. The inert gas may be nitrogen, hydrogen, or a combination thereof, or it may include at least one of nitrogen, hydrogen, NH, Ar, He, and CF. The operating pressure of the plasma may range from 1 millitorr to 150 millitor. The plasma removes photoresist, the hard skin formed on photoresist during aggressive etch processes, and polymeric depositions formed during etch processes. The plasma strips photoresist at a rate sufficiently high for production use and does not appreciably attack carbon-containing low-k dielectric materials. An apparatus including a plasma tool containing a semiconductor substrate and the low oxygen-content plasma, is also provided.