A two-step plasma-thermal atomic layer etching (ALE) process that is capable of etching Ni with high selectivity with respect to the SiO₂ hard mask and high anisotropy is evaluated in this work with a reactive ion etching (RIE) process to highlight the contrast between these two processes and the advantages of combining these two processes to tailor the sidewall profile with greater processing efficiency. The RIE chemistry leveraged the enhanced volatility of chlorinated nickel in the presence of hydrogen atoms. The hybrid RIE and ALE process achieved the desired sidewall profile, with no measurable residual halogen.

中文翻译：

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图案化镍用于极端紫外线光刻掩模应用。二。混合反应离子蚀刻和原子层蚀刻处理

在这项工作中，通过反应离子刻蚀（RIE）工艺对两步等离子体热原子层刻蚀（ALE）工艺进行了评估，该工艺能够相对于SiO ₂硬掩模以高选择性刻蚀Ni，并且具有高各向异性。这两个过程之间的对比以及将这两个过程结合起来以更有效地调整侧壁轮廓的优势。RIE化学方法利用了氢原子存在下氯化镍挥发性的增强。RIE和ALE混合工艺实现了所需的侧壁轮廓，没有可测量的残留卤素。