A molecular dynamics investigation of fluorocarbon based layer-by-layer etching of silicon and Si[O.sub.2]

A molecular dynamics (MD) model is used to examine both the deposition and etching steps during the layer-by-layer etching of Si and Si[O.sub.2]. The results have shown that fluorocarbon passivation films can be grown in a self-limiting manner on both Si and Si[O.sub.2] by using low-energy C[F.sub.2.sup.+] and C[F.sub.3.sup.+] ions.