Comparison between wet HF etching and vapor HF etching for sacrificial oxide removal

In this work the etching of different Si-oxide, Si-nitride and metal layers in HF:H 2 O 24.5:75.5, BHF:glycerol 2:1 and vapor HF is studied and compared. The vapor HF etching is done in a commercially available system for wafer cleaning, that was adapted according to custom specifications to enable stiction-free surface micro- machining. The etch rates as a function of etching method, time and temperature are determined. Moreover, the influence of internal and external parameters on the HF vapor etching process are analyzed before choosing the standard HF vapor etch technique used for comparing the etching behavior of the different films.