H2/N2 Plasma Etching Rate of Carbon Films Deposited by H-Assisted Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition

Etching resistance of carbon films deposited by plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is one of the concerns to fabricate nanostructures using such carbon films as protective coating films and dummy films. We have carried out H2/N2 plasma etching of carbon films deposited by using an H-assisted plasma CVD method. The etching rate of carbon films decreases exponentially with increasing the mass density of carbon films from 1.51 to 2.27 g/cm3. The mass density of carbon films is the key parameter to tune the etching resistance.