Hi everyone

So today I've etched the gates. Took a bit longer, because the SVG coater just gave up on all of us this week. Henry repaired it to a degree where at least the HMDS priming and manual/auto dispense work again now, but the soft bake hotplate is fucked without hope.

Next month they'll replace the SVG line with a new coater/developer track anyway, so no worries.

Today Li Ho showed me the widget in the right bottom corner of the poly etcher control which actually tells me with a curve, as soon as the poly is gone by analyzing the color of the wafer which is directed from the top of the etching chamber to a chromometer with a glass fiber. I can't believe I've never noticed the ICP endpoint widget before! ^^'

Anyway. Etching the poly took around 1.5 minutes for each wafer and I etched each wafer for 3 minutes, which will make sure, that there is no sidewall residue of the polysilicon left, which might cause shorts.

The color of the isolating oxide between the junctions and the bulk is still blue-ish, which means, that it's still in the range of around 800-1000 Angstrom. (Addressing the concern from Ferenc)

Monday I should be able to etch the 200nm LTO implant stop structures, perform the nimplan+pimplant and anneal it for 30 minutes at 900 degrees Celsius.

After that I can form the nitride spacers, perform the silicide formation and add the wires. There shouldn't be shorts anymore now, this time.

-lev