Selective dry etching of TiN nanostructures over SiO2 nanotrenches using a Cl2/Ar/N2 inductively coupled plasma

An inductively coupled plasma etch process for the fabrication of TiN nanostructures over nanotopography is presented. Using a Cl-2/Ar/N-2 plasma, a selectivity of 50 is achieved over SiO2. The effect of N-2 flow rate on the etch rates and the nonvolatile residues on TiN sidewalls is investigated. As N-2 flow rate is increased up to 50 sccm, a change in the deposition of the nonvolatile residues on TiN sidewalls is observed. The current density-voltage characterizations of TiN devices fabricated with TiN nanostructure sidewalls are presented. The measured current densities of two different samples etched with low and high N-2 flow rate, respectively, demonstrated the presence after cleaning of an insulating layer deposited on the sidewalls for low N-2 flow rate only. (C) 2015 American Vacuum Society.