A novel metallic complex reaction etching for transition metal and magnetic material by low-temperature and damage-free neutral beam process for non-volatile MRAM device applications

A new oxidation reaction at ultralow temperature (-30°C) by bombardment of O₂ neutral beam can be enhanced at the extremely low activation energy, which can efficiently form a thin oxide film of all transition metal, such as platinum and ruthenium. Meanwhile, a novel neutral beam enhanced chemical etching for transition metals and magnetic materials was proposed without chemical and physical damages at ultralow temperature through Metallic Complex Reaction process. Highly anisotropic etching profile without both any sidewall re-deposition and damages on magnetic properties could be achieved just with a pure chemical reaction between ethanol and metallic oxide with low kinetic energy by neutral beam for the first time. This new etching technology has been considered as a breakthrough technology to develop next generation MRAM devices.