Direct analysis of contamination in submicron contact holes by thermal desorption spectroscopy

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Abstract
Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) has been applied to detect contamination, produced in deep-submicron contact holes during plasma etching. AlF and other Al-containing fragments were observed as constituents of the contamination. The contamination is found to be accumulated in the holes, depending on an overetch time, acting as an inhibitor against achieving sufficiently low contact resistance. The effects of cleaning by Ar+ ion sputtering after contact-hole fabrication are also investigated. The sputtering improves the contact resistance significantly. The sharp TDS peaks of AlF and AlC clearly decreased in good relation to the improvement in the contact resistance. The TDS method has proven to be an effective tool in evaluating contamination in the submicron contact holes.

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