ETCH/Plasma Etching | Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)

Etch with simplicity and efficiency.

Plasma-Therm's Plasma RIE etching is both efficient and gives you directional etching capability for maximum flexibility. RIE accommodates a wide range of materials - including dielectric (SiO2, Si3N4, etc.), silicon-based materials (Si, a-Si, poly-Si), compound materials (GaAs, InP, GaN, etc.), and metals (Al, Cr, Ti, etc.). Plasma-Therm offer both standard RIE systems and ICP-RIE systems. Your process chemistries will differ depending on your film types. For example, dielectric etch applications use fluorine-based chemistries, while metal etch uses chlorine-based chemistries. You can adjust and optimize etch conditions by tuning the settings of process parameters such as RF power, pressure, and gas flows.

Ionization

Plasma is initiated by applying RF power at 13.56 MHz to the powered electrode (cathode), while the other electrode is grounded. The electric field ionizes the gas molecules, creating the plasma.

Ion Acceleration

Typically, chemically reactive species (ions) are accelerated toward the substrate (usually a silicon wafer) to remove a specific deposited material.

RF Power

Generation of reactive species in the bulk plasma (excited molecules, radicals, etc…) and the density of the charged species (ions and electrons) depend on the RF power applied.

Gas In/Gas Out

Process gases enter the chamber through the shower-head in the top electrode, and the reactor is evacuated by a vacuum pump.