Plasma etching processes for the reduction of global warming emissions

Summary form only given, as follows. A significant issue facing the semiconductor industry is the emissions of long lived global warming gases such as perfluorocarbons (PFCs) like CF/sub 4/, C/sub 2/F/sub 6/, and C/sub 3/F/sub 8/ which are used for dielectric etch. In 1998, the Kyoto Protocol set quantitative targets on the reduction of global warming gases in the developed countries. Within the semiconductor industry, the World Semiconductor Council, representing the semiconductor manufacturers in Europe, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and the USA, has agreed to a ten percent reduction in greenhouse emissions relative to a baseline year by the year 2010. Possible solutions to this problem include process optimization, abatement of the effluents, capture and recovery, and alternative chemistries which are more benign from a global warming standpoint. The investigation of alternative chemistries is viewed as a long term solution.