Abstract Scope |
In the semiconductor manufacturing process, dry etching using plasma is one of the most important processes to form the fine circuit patterns. When the plasma damages the etching chamber, particulate contaminations are produced, resulting in the contamination of the integration circuits. Therefore, plasma-resistant ceramic coatings have been required for the inner walls of the etching chamber. Currently, yttrium-based ceramics have been used as the plasma-resistant ceramic coating but their mechanical properties were low. For this reason, development of novel materials with excellent plasma resistance and mechanical properties superior to those of the conventional plasma resistant materials has been strongly required. In this study, therefore, the present authors paid attention to Y-Al-O-based ceramics, Y3Al5O12 (YAG), YAlO3 (YAP) and Y4Al2O9 (YAM), and fabricated dense Y-Al-O-based ceramics, and their mechanical and thermal properties were evaluated. In addition, these Y-Al-O-based ceramics were exposed under NF3/Ar and Cl2/Ar plasma, and their plasma resistance was discussed. |