Patent 7811939 was granted and assigned to Tokyo Electron on October, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A plasma etching apparatus is arranged to perform main etching for etching a poly-crystalline silicon film by use of Cl2/SF6/N2 plasma obtained by exciting Cl2 gas, SF6 gas, and N2 gas, and over etching for etching the poly-crystalline silicon film by use of Cl2/HBr/CF4 plasma obtained by exciting Cl2 gas, HBr gas, and CF4 gas. In the main etching, N2 gas is added to suppress formation of roughness on a poly-crystalline silicon surface and attain a sufficient etching rate.