Atmospheric Pressure Plasma aided a-Si Etching for Large Area TFT{\_}LCD Manufacturing

Atmospheric Pressure plasma aided a-Si etching for large area TFT-LCD manufacturing has been developed. DBD (Dielectric Barrier Discharge) was used for plasma generation. SF$_{6}$ gas is used as etchant gas with N$_{2}$ as a carrier gas. The plasma etcher is configured in-line system which is the glass moving system under the fixed plasma source. The maximum etch rate reaches almost 500 nm/min which is based on the plasma contact time. Hydrogen gas has been adopted for selectivity of a-Si to SiN$_{x}$. The dramatic enhancement of selectivity by addition of H2 is shown. The temperature of glass is a critical parameter for the a-Si etching at atmospheric pressure.