Effects of Different Additive Gases on Dry Etching of SiC in SF_6

Plasma etching(PE) of β-SiC thin films has been performed with different additive gases, such as O 2 and N 2 , in SF 6 reactant. Experimental results show that the etching rates of SiC material increase when O 2 is mixed with reactant gas SF 6, and the etching rates decrease when N 2 is introduced under the identical process conditions, which indicates that the SF 6 is diluted by N 2 and it does not react with SiC during the etching process.