Methods for conditioning a surface prior to etching to optimize etch performance

Abstract

New methods are provided for conditioning a surface of a material to be etched prior to etching the material. More specifically, the present disclosure provides various embodiments of methods for conditioning a surface of a metal layer prior to etching the metal layer using etch chemistry optimized for the bulk metal layer. In some embodiments, the techniques disclosed herein may be used to condition a surface of a ruthenium (Ru) layer prior to etching the ruthenium layer using halogenating etch chemistries in a wet atomic layer etching (ALE) process.

Images