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Inductively Coupled Plasma Reactive Ion Etching (ICP RIE)
Inductively Coupled Plasma etching is a dry etching technique that employs radio frequency energy (RF) to create a plasma of ionized atoms and radicals of reactive gases capable of etching various semiconductors, metals, oxides, nitrides and other materials. Two independent RF sources are used in ICP RIE – one is coupled inductively to a low pressure gas mixture creating a high density plasma, and another is applied to a lower electrode (sample chuck) to produce a substrate bias to extract and accelerate the reactive species from the plasma to the sample being etched. Separate RF generators for the plasma and lower electrode allow independent control of ion density and energy. The temperature of the chuck can be controlled between -200C and 400C. The composition of the gas mixture and its pressure can be accurately controlled. This combination of adjustable parameters makes the ICP RIE an extremely versatile research tool. For example, ICP RIE etching processes can exhibit high etch rates, reduced ion bombardment to minimize surface damage, wide margins for selectivity between the mask and materials being etched and produce controllable sidewall slopes in etched features.
The Nanofabrication Facility is equipped with two ICP RIE Plasmalab System 100 etchers manufactured by Oxford Instruments. Each system has its own target applications and associated reactive gases and accommodates wafers as large as 150mm. One is used mostly for etching silicon and dielectrics (SiO2, SiNx) with reactive gases such as SF6, CF4, HBr and SiCl4, while the other is used primarily for etching III-V semiconductors (GaAs, InP, etc) and metals with Cl, BCl3, CH4 and H2. Both systems are equipped with laser etch depth monitors. These are optical interferometers that can monitor etch depth in real time and with a precision down to a few nanometers. The interferometric patterns can be produced either by reflections of the laser beam from layers with different optical density within the sample, or by reflections of the laser beam from the surface of the etched sample and the surface of the mask.
