Step coverage

step coverage

Step coverage describes how well a film covers the top, sidewalls, and bottom of a structure with height differences.

Other learning contexts (6)

Thin-film coverage across the top, sidewalls and bottom of a stepped structure — A conceptual view of film coverage across a step. Actual step coverage cannot be calculated from this illustration.

In context

Even if thickness is uniform on a flat region, a film may be thin at the bottom of a deep hole. Reactant transport direction and the surface reaction mechanism affect coverage.

Example

If the top thickness is 10 nm and the bottom thickness is 5 nm, bottom-to-top coverage is 50%. Its definition differs from one based on sidewalls, so do not directly compare the same numerical value.

Key distinction

Uniformity across an entire wafer and coverage within one structure are different metrics.

From the same lessons

Process recipe Parasitic capacitance Contact resistance Dopant diffusion Diffusion doping Thin film Deposition rate Film thickness uniformity

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