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Studies of Plasma Etching of High Temperature Superconducting Thin Films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

M. R. Poor  and
C. B. Fleddermann
M. R. Poor
Affiliation:
Center for High Technology Materials, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
C. B. Fleddermann
Affiliation:
Center for High Technology Materials, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
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Abstract

The fabrication of devices in high-temperature superconducting ceramics will require the development of suitable techniques for patterning thin films of these materials. We report the plasma etching of Y-Ba-Cu-oxide thin films using techniques adapted from the semiconductor industry. The etching reactor consists of a dc hollow cathode discharge using a chlorine/helium mixture as the working gas. The Y-Ba-Cu-oxide films are deposited on alumina substrates using ion-beam sputtering. We have investigated the etching of these films over a broad range of gas pressures, substrate temperatures, and input powers, using both as-deposited and oxygen annealed films. Substrates were held at ground potential to minimize ion bombardment during etching in order to separate the chemical aspects of the etching process from ion-bombardment effects. The etch rate of these films was found to be highly dependent on the substrate temperature, the system pressure, and on whether the films are annealed. Annealed films etch nearly an order of magnitude more slowly than unannealed films. The film stoichiometry, measured using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), varies greatly with temperature. The copper in the films is removed at the lowest temperature, followed by barium and then yttrium.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 190: Symposium M – Plasma Processing and Synthesis of Materials III , 1990 , 273
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1991

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