%0 Journal Article %T Understanding of a new approach for silicon nitride spacer etching using gaseous hydrofluoric acid after hydrogen ion implantation %+ Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information (CEA-LETI) %+ STMicroelectronics [Crolles] (ST-CROLLES) %+ Département Plate-Forme Technologique (DPFT) %A Ah-Leung, Vincent %A Pollet, Olivier %A Posseme, Nicolas %A Barros, Maxime Garcia %A Rochat, Névine %A Guedj, Cyril %A Audoit, Guillaume %A Barnola, Sebastien %< avec comité de lecture %@ 0734-2101 %J Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A %I American Vacuum Society %V 35 %N 2 %P 021408 %8 2017 %D 2017 %R 10.1116/1.4977077 %Z Engineering Sciences [physics]Journal articles %X Silicon nitride spacer etching is one of the most critical step for the fabrication of CMOS transistors in microelectronics. It is usually done by plasma etching using a fluorocarbon based chemistry. However, from the 14 nm technology node and beyond, this etching process no longer allows the etch specifications to be reached (nonformation of a foot, poor critical dimension control below 1 nm). To overcome this issue, a new process was developed. It consists of two steps in a first step, the silicon nitride film is modified by light ion implantation (hydrogen), and then followed by a removal step of this modified film by hydrofluoric acid (HF). In this paper, the authors propose to remove the implanted/modified silicon nitride using gaseous HF and understand the associated etching mechanisms using infrared spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at different stages of the process sequence (after implantation/modification, gaseous HF process, and post-treatment). %G English %L cea-02202455 %U https://cea.hal.science/cea-02202455 %~ CEA %~ DRT %~ LETI %~ CEA-GRE