H. Cho et al., Corrosion-free dry etch patterning of magnetic random access memory stacks: Effects of ultraviolet illumination, J APPL PHYS, 87(9), 2000, pp. 6397-6399
Individual layers of Ni0.8Fe0.2, Ni0.8Fe0.13Co0.07, TaN, and CrSi, and a fu
ll magnetic random access memory stack consisting of NiFeCo/CoFe/Cu/CoFe/Ni
FeCo/TaN/CrSi multilayers, were etched in high density Cl-2/Ar plasmas eith
er with or without concurrent ultraviolet (UV) illumination. Under optimize
d conditions, etch rate enhancement up to a factor of 5 was obtained for Ni
FeCo, TaN, and CrSi with UV illumination; whereas the etch rate of NiFe was
retarded. Post-etch cleaning with H-2 or SF6 plasmas or H2O rinsing was ne
cessary in all cases in order to prevent corrosion of the metal layers from
chlorinated etch residues. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-
8979(00)43708-4].