Statistical Study on Effect of Reactive Ion Etch Towards the Surface Morphology of Aluminum Pad

Abstract. Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) is a major process in the fabrication of semiconductor devices for transferring patterns from masks to semiconductor substrates. Design Of Experiment(DOE) has been used to study the effect of Reactive Ion Etch(RIE) towards surface morphology of aluminum bond pad. Important RIE factors involved in this experimental study are ratio of Tetrafluoromethane (CF4) and Argon gas flow, BIAS, and ICP power. Different combinations of these factors produces different results of surface morphologies which was obtained using Atomic Force Microscopic(AFM). Produced results shows that RMS is an important factor in surface characterization study and DOE offers a better way to optimize the desired outcome