Project description
Advanced plasma etching approach removes halogen use
Current plasma etching methods, which help precisely remove layers from a material surface, in the semiconductor industry are unsustainable owing to the use of harmful halogens. The EIC-funded HaloFreeEtch project aims to develop new etching processes that are free of halogens, focusing on silicon and silicon oxide. These new methods should be clean, efficient and precise. HaloFreeEtch will combine laboratory research, computational screening and sustainability analysis to identify promising etchants, predict working conditions and assess environmental impacts. By reducing carbon footprints and energy consumption, the proposed approach could serve as a blueprint for sustainability-driven process development in electronics and many other industries.
Objective
Current industrial plasma etching processes are not sustainable because they make use of halogens. HaloFreeEtch will take a fundamental, interdisciplinary and systematic approach to find new halogen-free etching processes.
HaloFreeEtch aims to identify new, halogen-free and sustainable etching processes for sustainable semiconductor manufacturing, applied to deep etching of silicon and silicon oxide. The novel etching processes we aim for shall be clean (in terms of harmful chemicals), efficient (in terms of processing speed and manufacturability) and precise (in terms of the desired shapes). HaloFreeEtch will provide a novel model- and data-based methodology for sustainability and life cycle analysis of plasma-etching to quantify the carbon-footprint of all novel etching processes.
HaloFreeEtch combines lab-scale research on three innovative technological routes with computational screening of novel and promising etchants, a comprehensive multi-scale modeling approach to predict potential working points and a model-based life cycle and sustainability analysis. Hydrogen (H)-based, metal catalyst-assisted as well as approaches inspired by atomic layer etching (ALE) will be studied. State-of-the-art plasma etching machines will be modified and combined with innovative features and advanced analytics. Besides getting rid of halogens, we will address more dimensions of sustainability such as the high energy consumption of the established plasma etching processes. HaloFreeEtch will implement a novel, sustainability-driven process development scheme which might serve as a blueprint for sustainability-driven process development in electronics and many other industries.
The project will focus on the semiconductor industry, where plasma etching is a standard industrial process used for many applications. Taking the lead in the development of innovative halogen-free processes will strengthen the long-term position of the EU in the global chips industry.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-EIC-2023-PATHFINDERCHALLENGES-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
09111 Chemnitz
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.