With the growing demands for transferring large amounts of data between components in a package, it is required for advanced packaging technologies to form smaller vertical vias in the insulators. Plasma etching is one of the most widely used micro-vias formation processes. This paper has developed a fabrication process for 5-10 µm residue-free micro-vias with 70° tapered angle in polyimide film based on O2/CHF3 inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The etch rate would monotonically increase with the ICP power, RF power, and gas flow rate. As for the gas ratio, there is an optimum range of CHF3 ratio, which could obtain the highest etch rate. The results have clearly shown that the enhancement of ion bombardment and prolongation of etching time would be beneficial to grass-like residue removal. In addition, during the etching of partially cured polyimide, the lateral etch rate would significantly increase in the region near the metal hard mask.
Keywords: etching rate; inductively coupled plasma; micro-vias; polyimide.