Valence fragmentation dynamics of a promising low global warming etching gas CF₃CHCF₂

C₃HF₅ (CF₃CHCF₂, KSG14), a promising low global warming potential (GWP < 1) alternative to traditional perfluorocarbon etching gases for advanced integrated circuit manufacturing, particularly for high-aspect-ratio SiO₂/SiN stacked layers in 3D flash memory. This study investigates the dissociative photoionization dynamics of C₃HF₅ across 10.0-26.0 eV. Ion yield curves and breakdown diagrams reveal that C₃HF₅ primarily fragments into C₃HF₅⁺, C₃F₅⁺, C₃HF₄⁺, C₃F₄⁺, C₂F₃⁺, and CF₃⁺ ions. Appearance Energies of these fragments, determined from the ion yield curves, indicate fragmentation pathways at low electronic transitions. These findings underscore C₃HF₅'s potential as an environmentally friendly etching gas with excellent performance characteristics.