Plasma Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)

Benefit description

Equipment: PlasmaLab80 Plus. Plasma: ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma). Gases: SF6, CHF3, Cl2, BCl3, NH3, CO, CH4, H2, O2, N2, Ar. Characteristics: Etching for any kind of materials (conductor, semiconductors and insolators, providing careful chamber cleaning between different runs). We have etched among others: Nb, semiconductor III-V, HfO2, SiO2, SiNx... The Plasma Lab 80 Plus uses a plasma to create ions from gas molecules. The ions are driven by the eclectic field toward the sample surface where they collide and cause some of the sample atoms to be blasted away (just like sputtering.) The ions also react chemically with the surface where the products, which include some of the surface material, are all volatile and result in etching of the surface. If the surface is coated with a mask, a patterned polymer layer, the system can be set up so that the exposed surface etches much more quickly than the mask; when the mask layer is removed the pattern is left etched into the sample surface.