Me. Day et M. Delfino, ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE PLASMA-ETCHING OF NATIVE TIO2 ON TIN, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 143(1), 1996, pp. 264-266
Thin-film polycrystalline TiN with an approximate 2 nm thick native Ti
O2 overlayer is bombarded with 50 to 200 eV Ar ions in an electron cyc
lotron resonance plasma. In situ x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and
static secondary ion mass spectrometry suggest complete removal of oxy
gen from the planar surface, independent of ion energy, with TiO2 rema
ining on the columnar grain boundaries. The TiN etching rate increases
from 6 to 14 nm/min as the ion energy is raised from 100 to 200 eV. T
he TiN stoichiometry does not change with ion bombardment.