3D feature profile simulation of high aspect ratio plasma etching process using low-temperature plasma chemistry

High aspect ratio(HAR) plasma etching process has continuously advanced through novel technologies to meet the stringent process requirements of next-generation semiconductor devices such as DRAM and V-NAND. Recently, carbon-less plasma chemistry combined with low-temperature processing have demonstrated significant improvement in etch performance. However, fundamental scientific investigations remain limited due to the lack of experimental data and the complexity of the underlying physicochemical phenomena,. To address this gap, we proposed a physically reasonable surface reaction model and integrated it into a well-established 3D feature profile simulation platform. In this work, we extend our universal plasma oxide etching model to incorporate novel low-temperature chemistry. The proposed model was validated through comparison with recent experimental data. Finally, we demonstrated that this integrated simulation approach can effectively explain and predict the enhanced performance observed in recent HAR etching processes employing novel low-temperature chemistry.