Abstract: The present disclosure pertains to our discovery that a particular sequence of processing steps will lead to the formation of a rounded top corner on a trench formed in a semiconductor substrate.

Abstract: An etchant composition for etching straight walled, tapered trenches in silicon comprising chlorine, nitrogen and a mixture of helium and oxygen. The resultant trenches can be readily filled with a dielectric material without the formation of voids. The etchant of the invention is less corrosive, and thus provides increased chamber life and reduced costs over hydrogen bromide-containing etchants.

Abstract: A process for etching shallow trenches in single crystal silicon is described. The process etchant comprises HBr/Cl.sub.2 /O.sub.2 /He. The process can be used with various mask 24 schemes including, for example, photoresists, oxide hardmasks and nitride hardmasks. The process forms shallow trenches 32 typically having a width of from about 0.25 microns to about 1 micron, and a depth of from about 0.3 microns to about 1 micron. The shallow trenches 32 have rounded bottom corners 38, smooth and continuous sidewalls 34 and substantially flat and clean bottoms 36. For a given trench width, the profile angle is substantially uniform across the single crystal silicon. The trench depth is substantially uniform across the silicon also. In addition, the profile angle is substantially independent of the trench depth. The process can comprise one or two etch steps for etching the single crystal silicon. The two-step etch process forms shallow trenches having varying profile angles with respect to the trench depth.