Effects of dry etching damage removal on Si selective epitaxial growth

After etching treatment (AET) performed in after treatment chamber (ATC) of a reactive ion etching (RIE) system was reported to be efficient in removing the residual layer and defects caused by RIE as well as producing a clean surface of oxide patterned windows for selective epitaxial growth (SEG). And, an interesting phenomenon that the AET time of full-patterned and half-patterned wafers was different with all other parameters fixed was observed.