In-plasma photo-assisted etching of Si with chlorine aided by an external vacuum ultraviolet source

Photo-assisted etching of p-type Si was previously found to occur in a chlorine-containing, Faraday-shielded, inductively coupled plasma (ICP), and this was attributed to the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light generated by the plasma. Other causes for the very high etching rates were ruled out, including ion bombardment. In the present study, the substrate in the main Cl2/Ar ICP was subjected to extra VUV light that was generated in an independently controlled, auxiliary Ar/He ICP in tandem with the main ICP. The ICPs were separated by a tungsten mesh and a bundle of high-aspect-ratio quartz tubes in a honeycomb configuration. There was no measurable perturbation of the main plasma by the auxiliary plasma. The etching rate was found to be enhanced by 11%-51% with the additional VUV light provided by the auxiliary ICP. With absolute measurements of the auxiliary ICP photon flux at the sample surface, as described elsewhere, incredibly large etching yields of 90-240 Si atoms per photon were obtained. It is argued that etching is not a result of electron-hole pair formation but is instead ascribed to a photocatalytic chain reaction. © 2022 Author(s).