Development of highly efficient damage-free finishing technique for wide gap semiconductor substrate utilizing atmospheric pressure plasma

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25249006
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Production engineering/Processing studies
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Yamamura Kazuya 大阪大学, 工学研究科, 准教授 (60240074)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): YAMADA Hideaki 産業技術総合研究所, 先進パワーエレクトロニクス研究センターダイヤモンド材料チーム, 主任研究員 (90443233)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 大気圧プラズマ / 表面改質 / 研磨 / ワイドギャップ半導体 / ダメージフリー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Wide gap semiconductor materials are very promising materials for power device because of their excellent electrical and thermal properties. However, polishing rate of these materials is low and subsurface damage is formed in conventional polishing process. To resolve these issues, we proposed plasma-assisted polishing (PAP), which combines atmospheric-pressure plasma irradiation and soft abrasive polishing, to realize high-efficient and high-integrity finishing of difficult-to-polish materials, such as SiC, GaN and diamond, in dry condition. In the case of SiC and GaN, atomically smooth surfaces having clear step-terrace structure were obtained. In addition, XTEM observation results showed that there was no subsurface damage on the PAP processed surface. Especially, in the case of GaN, Despite the formation of many etch pits due to material defects in conventional CMP, no etch pits were observed on the surface processed by PAP.

Free Research Field

物理化学加工