GB2049560A - Plasma etching - Google Patents

Plasma etching Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2049560A
GB2049560A GB8015435A GB8015435A GB2049560A GB 2049560 A GB2049560 A GB 2049560A GB 8015435 A GB8015435 A GB 8015435A GB 8015435 A GB8015435 A GB 8015435A GB 2049560 A GB2049560 A GB 2049560A
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Prior art keywords
etching
etched
workpieces
gas
discharge
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GB8015435A
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OC Oerlikon Balzers AG
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Balzers AG
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Publication of GB2049560A publication Critical patent/GB2049560A/en
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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J37/00—Discharge tubes with provision for introducing objects or material to be exposed to the discharge, e.g. for the purpose of examination or processing thereof
    • H01J37/32—Gas-filled discharge tubes
    • H01J37/32009—Arrangements for generation of plasma specially adapted for examination or treatment of objects, e.g. plasma sources
    • H01J37/32357—Generation remote from the workpiece, e.g. down-stream
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03C—CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF GLASSES, GLAZES OR VITREOUS ENAMELS; SURFACE TREATMENT OF GLASS; SURFACE TREATMENT OF FIBRES OR FILAMENTS MADE FROM GLASS, MINERALS OR SLAGS; JOINING GLASS TO GLASS OR OTHER MATERIALS
    • C03C15/00—Surface treatment of glass, not in the form of fibres or filaments, by etching
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C03—GLASS; MINERAL OR SLAG WOOL
    • C03C—CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF GLASSES, GLAZES OR VITREOUS ENAMELS; SURFACE TREATMENT OF GLASS; SURFACE TREATMENT OF FIBRES OR FILAMENTS MADE FROM GLASS, MINERALS OR SLAGS; JOINING GLASS TO GLASS OR OTHER MATERIALS
    • C03C23/00—Other surface treatment of glass not in the form of fibres or filaments
    • C03C23/0005—Other surface treatment of glass not in the form of fibres or filaments by irradiation
    • C03C23/006—Other surface treatment of glass not in the form of fibres or filaments by irradiation by plasma or corona discharge
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
    • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
    • G03F7/26—Processing photosensitive materials; Apparatus therefor
    • G03F7/40—Treatment after imagewise removal, e.g. baking
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
    • G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
    • G03F7/26—Processing photosensitive materials; Apparatus therefor
    • G03F7/42—Stripping or agents therefor
    • G03F7/427—Stripping or agents therefor using plasma means only
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
    • H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
    • H01L21/30—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26
    • H01L21/302—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26 to change their surface-physical characteristics or shape, e.g. etching, polishing, cutting
    • H01L21/306—Chemical or electrical treatment, e.g. electrolytic etching
    • H01L21/3065—Plasma etching; Reactive-ion etching
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01J—ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS
    • H01J2237/00—Discharge tubes exposing object to beam, e.g. for analysis treatment, etching, imaging
    • H01J2237/32—Processing objects by plasma generation
    • H01J2237/33—Processing objects by plasma generation characterised by the type of processing
    • H01J2237/334—Etching
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
    • H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
    • H01L21/30—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26
    • H01L21/31—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26 to form insulating layers thereon, e.g. for masking or by using photolithographic techniques; After treatment of these layers; Selection of materials for these layers
    • H01L21/3105—After-treatment
    • H01L21/311—Etching the insulating layers by chemical or physical means
    • H01L21/31105—Etching inorganic layers
    • H01L21/31111—Etching inorganic layers by chemical means
    • H01L21/31116—Etching inorganic layers by chemical means by dry-etching
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
    • H01L21/00—Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/02—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof
    • H01L21/04—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer
    • H01L21/18—Manufacture or treatment of semiconductor devices or of parts thereof the devices having potential barriers, e.g. a PN junction, depletion layer or carrier concentration layer the devices having semiconductor bodies comprising elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table or AIIIBV compounds with or without impurities, e.g. doping materials
    • H01L21/30—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26
    • H01L21/31—Treatment of semiconductor bodies using processes or apparatus not provided for in groups H01L21/20 - H01L21/26 to form insulating layers thereon, e.g. for masking or by using photolithographic techniques; After treatment of these layers; Selection of materials for these layers
    • H01L21/3105—After-treatment
    • H01L21/311—Etching the insulating layers by chemical or physical means
    • H01L21/31127—Etching organic layers
    • H01L21/31133—Etching organic layers by chemical means
    • H01L21/31138—Etching organic layers by chemical means by dry-etching

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
  • General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Analytical Chemistry (AREA)
  • Power Engineering (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
  • Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Toxicology (AREA)
  • ing And Chemical Polishing (AREA)
  • Drying Of Semiconductors (AREA)

Abstract

A method of etching the surfaces of workpieces in vacuum by an etching gas, which is activated by a low-voltage arc discharge between a thermionic cathode (13) and an anode (6). The surfaces to be etched are arranged outside the arc plasma and are protected from damage. The steepness of the flanks of the etched structures and the etching rate may be adjusted by the pressure of the gas in the etching chamber (1) and possibly by an auxiliary voltage applied to the workpieces (3) to be etched or to their carriers (2). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A method of etching the surfaces of workpieces by gas activated by electric gas discharge The invention relates to a method of etching the surfaces of workpieces by gas activated by electric gas discharge. Such etching techniques are now of great importance primarily for the manufacture of semiconductor elements and circuits of complex structure.
It is known that gases may be activated in glow discharge, i.e. metastable states of atoms or molecular fragments, free radicals, atoms or ions may be made which are chemically much more active than the molecules of uninfluenced gases. They may be activated for instance by high frequency fields of fluorohydrocarbon gases, or their mixtures with oxygen, and be used for the etching of silicon or silicon compounds. A further application is in the incineration of organic material by oxygen plasma.
As long as the etching effect is of chemical nature, there is on the one side a pronounced selectivity as regards to the etched substrates, and on the other hand directional independence (isotropy). Both these are desirable for incineration. For isotropic etching are usually used the so-called cylinder reactors. The plasma is in this case produced by inductively or capacitively coupled high frequency discharge. The disadvantage of this apparatus is the imposibility of using anisotropic etching.
When silicon or its compounds are etched it is usual to strive for a high packing density of the structures, in order to produce an etching pattern of the smallest dimensions possible. This is, however possible only when the etching edges have a very steep gradient of slope, and these can be obtained only in a process in which the etching effect is strongly directionally dependent (anisotropic). Diode systems are used for anisotropic etching in which high frequency sputtering with gases which can be chemically activated, the chemical effect being strongest in the direction of movement of the ions bombarding the substrate. The so-called planar diode reactors work on this principle. They have the disadvantage that not only the etched specimens, but also their carriers, the walls of the reaction chamber and the electrodes are exposed to the bombardment of high-energy ions.This brings about the sputtering of material which is deposited in large quantities on the specimens to be etched. This contamination leads to local impairment of the etching effect which results in unevenly etched surfaces. In addition ion bom bardment of electrically sensitive structures may result in damage. A further problem is presented by stray fields of the strong high frequency transmitters outside the plasma etching apparatus. They may damage electronic apparatus in their vicinity and they are difficult to avoid. Isotropic etching is also possible in planar apparatus, but it is not economi cal. It follows that as a rule the method which is most suitable for a certain purpose may be used only in a specially designed type of apparatus, and it is not possible to use various methods in the same apparatus.
The aim of the present invention is the indication of a process in which a non-directional or directional etching effect or a combination of both the effects is possible at will, in that the shape of the flanks of the etched structures may be influenced to suit any requirements. In addition the method should be capable of such a control that contamination of the specimens by the sputtered material is largely avoided.
This is achieved by a method according to Claim 1.
The basis of the invention lies inter alia in the realization that in contrast to the used glow discharge, arc discharge may be used for activation of the etching gas. Because the arc may be localized by suitable measures the workpieces to be etched may be arranged outside the plasma. This avoids damage to sensitive electronic structures by the plasma. By the application of an auxiliary voltage to the workpieces or by suitable selection of potentials of the arc electrodes with respect to the workpieces and their carriver the energy of the ions which are accelerated by the arc plasma on to the workpieces may be set at will without adversely influencing the activation. The energy of the ions may be e.g. kept so low that no sputtering is obtained (ion bombardment below the sputtering threshold). It was found that exceptionally high activation may be obtained by low voltage arc discharge.Strongly increased chemical activity of the etching gas, which could hitherto be obtained only by the excitation by a high frequency discharge, may also be obtained or even improved upon by low voltage arc discharge. Due to the increased activity a significantly increased etching rate is achieved. In comparison with the high frequency method the invention has - in addition to the spatial separation of plasma and etching space - also a further advantage that no high frequency stray fields are produced, which could be only with difficulty suppressed by expensive screening.
Particularly in comparison with the so-called planar reactors the method according to the invention has the following advantage: because the low voltage arc discharge in the reaction vessel may be easily concentrated into a cord-shaped discharge path, e.g. to the vicinity of the axis of a cylindrical discharge vessel, the workpieces to be etched may be arranged as a jacket around the axis with optimum use of the space. Further advantages, which are obtained particularly in connection with the preferred embodiments of an apparatus for the carrying out of a method according to the invention, are apparent from the following description of Examples.
By means of the accompanying drawing will first be described this preferred embodiment of the device. It shows as an etching chamber a vacuum chamber which is formed by a base plate 7 and a bell-shaped upper part 1; the etching chamber may be evacuated via a pump connection 8. In this chamber is situated a carrier 2 for the cylindrical arrangement of the workpieces 3 to be etched about the low-voltage arc discharge. Athermionic cathode 13 and an anode 6 serve as electrodes for the formation of a low-voltage arc discharge. The cathode is situated in the cathode chamber 11 flanged to the bell 1 and is supplied by two conductors 17 for heat ing current which extend into the chamber vacuum tightly through an insulating plate 14.With the ther mionic cathode chamber communicates further a gas metering valve 12 and with the etching chamber a gas metering valve 16 forthe admission of an accurately measured amount of gas or for maintain ing a predetermined intake of gas when etching. It is advantageous for the constriction of the low-voltage arc discharge to connect or separate the thermionic cathode chamber and etching chamber by a wall 9 provided with a central aperture, while the wall 9 is electrically insulated with respect to 1 and 11 by the two rings 10. In addition, a magnetic field formed by a a magnet 15 may be provided for the constriction of the plasma.
A separated cathode chamber has also the advantage that the thermionic cathode may be protected from the influence of the etching gas, in that a protective atmosphere, e.g. of argon, is during the etching process maintained in it, while the etching gas to be activated, which is needed for the etching process, is at the same time present in the etching chamber. The former may be admitted through the valve 12, the latter through the valve 16.
As the anode 6 of the low-voltage arc discharge serves in the embodiment a metal plate carried by a current conductor 5 extending vacuum-tightly in the chamber 1 by means of an insulator 4. Between the anode 6 and the cathode 13 is connected a source of current with a voltage (up to several 100 V) needed for the discharge, while it is left to the requirements of each individual case where the earth point is situated; either the anode 6 or the cathode 13 may be earthed, or they may both be arranged to have predetermined potentials with respect to the earthed vacuum chamber, so that the corresponding discharge voltage obtains between the anode and the cathode.According to that arrangement the various workpieces are on different potentials with respect to the anode or the plasma of the arc, so that ions, formed in the arc discharge, may be accelerated (or possibly decelerated) on to the surfaces of the workpieces to correspondingly influence the etching process. If desired, also the carrier of the workpieces may be connected to a voltage source and thus be on a preselected potential relative to the wall of the etching chamber. If the anode is earthed, the bottom 7 of the etching chamber may be formed as such an anode. It is sometimes advantageous to maintain the anode in operation at a raised temperature of at least 3000C to reduce formation of deposits thereon. This is achieved in the simplest way in that no cooling is provided and a heat-resistant material is used for the anode.On the other hand it is sometimes necessary to artificially cool the current conductors 5 and 17, the partition 9 and the walls of the thermionic cathode chamber 11, particularly if high arc outputs are used.
The carrying out of the method according to the invention will be described in more detail in the following Examples: 1. Isotropic etching ofmonocrystalline silicon Polished silicon wafers of 51 mm in diameter were fixed on the carrier 2 in the etching chamber, the surface of the wafers having been previously partly coated by a pattern of a photosensitive material of 1 #m m in thickness. The apparatus was first evacuated to a pressure of8 x 10 3pascal, and then filled with argon to a pressure of 20 pascal. After ignition of the arc discharge a mixture of carbontetrafluoride and oxygen (7% oxygen) was introduced into the etching space, up to a total pressure of 40 pascal.Isotropic etching of the silicon was performed in these conditions with an arc of 500 W in power, so that the edges of the pattern of the photosensitive material were strongly underetched. The etching rate was 77 nanometers per minute.
2. Anisotropic etching ofmonocrystalline silicon Silicon wafers, provided with a pattern of a photosensitive material 1 Ccm thick were fixed on carriers which were electrically insulated from the apparatus.
The apparatus was evacuated to 5 x 10-3 pascal; then by means of needle valves argon was introducked into the cathode chamber or a mixture of carbontetrafluoride and oxygen was introduced into the etching chamber so that a total pressure of 0.3 pascal was obtained, while the partial pressure of both the argon and the mixture of carbontetrafluoride and oxygen was 0.15 pascal. Arc discharge of 360 watt in power was constrained by an axial magnetic field of 150 gauss. To the substrate carriers was attached alternating voltage of 50 Hz the negative peaks of which reached an amplitude of 640 V, while the positive part was suppressed by a rectifier.
Etching was achieved in these conditions which acted perpendicularly to the surface of the wafer, i.e.
an anisotropic etching without underetching of the mask of photosensitive material, the rate being 36 nanometres per minute.
3. Etching ofquartzglass (SiO# Pieces of quartz glas (SiO2) sized 50 x 50 x 1 mm served as workpieces, which were mounted in electrically insulated carriers. After evacuation to 6 x 10-3 pascal an arc was ignited in a mixture of argon at a pressure of 0.2 pascal and trifluoromethane (CHF3) at a pressure of 0.15 pascal. The arc was simultaneously constricted by means of an axial magnetic field (150 gaus ) and the etching effect was increased by an alternating current at 50 Hz having an amplitude with negative peaks of 1000 V applied to the workpiece carrier. Hydroxyfluorosilanes could be detected by means of a mass spectrometer as reaction products of the etching gas and quartz. This means that the quartz surface reacted with the fragments of CHN3 and was consequently removed.
4. Etching-offoflayers of photosensitive material in oxygen plasma A pattern of photosensitive material, 1 ,am thick, was incinerated at partial pressures of 10 pascal for argon and oxygen using an arc of 360 watt in pulse and a negative amplitude of the voltage powers applied to the workpieces of 320 V at a rate of 160 nanometres per minute. The combination of isotropic and anisotropic etching of silicon with subsequent complete incineration of the photosensitive material in an oxygen plasma was also successfully performed.
As is apparent from the preceding Examples isotropic etching, i.e. a directionally independent etch ing which attacks the substrate surface from all sides uniformly, is obtained at higher pressures of the etching gas. Figure 2a shows one such etching structure in cross-section. In that figure 18 is a mask which is in the isotropic process strongly underetched so that the edges of the etched material 19 are significantly displaced with respect to the mask.
At lower pressures the so-called anisotropic, i.e.
directionally dependent etching obtains, as is shown in Figure 2b. Here the edges of the etched material coincide with the limits of the mask. The method therefore affords a higher resolution than that achieved by the isotropic method. The directional effect of the etching seems to be correlated with the mean free path of the etching gas so that by the adjustment of the mean free path to a preselected value - with a given etching gas this means the adjustment to a certain pressure - a particular directional effect can be reproduced. Simultaneously with the pressure also the auxiliary voltage is adapted to the requirements of the process. The steepness of the edge, when structures are to be etched in a substrate through masks, is a maximum when the molecules of the etching gas bombard the substrate surface mainly perpendicularly.
It is important, in some cases, to protect the surface of the base material 20 (Figure 2c), which was exposed by the etching and on which lies a layer of the material 19 to be etched, from ion bombardment, as often happens during anisotropic etching. This takes place in that etching is first anisotropic (Figure 2c) in order to obtain an etching pattern which corresponds to the mask as much as possible. Before the etching depth reaches the base material 20 anisotropic etching is changed to isotropic etching and the remainder of the material 19 to be etched is removed by this gentle process (Figure 2d). Anisotropic etching, which results in the desired high resolution of the structures, is combined with isotropic etching which acts chemically selectively and affords a clean, smooth surface of the base material.
It must be taken into consideration that the material of the mask is in the second phase of the method underetched. This underetching is, however, in this case much smaller than when a purely isotropic process is u ed, as may be seen on comparison of Figures 2a and 2d. Consequently it is quite possible to use isotropic and anisotropic etching as the phases of the same etching process separated in time.
A Afurther possibility is to combine isotropic and anisotropic etching with the incineration of the photosensitive material into a single process consist- ing of several steps. It is, for instance, in the semiconductor technology sometimes necessary to coat a a pattern, which has already been etched, by a further layer which is to be etched again according to another pattern. If the etched edges of the first pattern are too sharp, the adhesion of the coating on these places might be difficult, and it is therefore preferable to make the first pattern with rounded edges. That is made possible by the combination of a plurality of methods according to the invention as follows: First the material 19 is etched using an anisotropic process according to a first pattern of photosensitive material (Figure 2b).Then the photosensitive material is incinerated in oxygen in the same apparatus (Figure 2e), followed by a third, this time isotropic etching process (Figure 2f), whereby the etched edges are rounded. Even here the displacement of the etched edges relative to the pattern of photosensitive material must be taken into consideration. It is, however, much smaller than with a purely isotropic process.
One can also obtain shapes of the etched flanks which lie between the shapes of the corresponding limit cases in that the working zone of the pressure is selected between the extremes of the isotropic and anisotropic cases.
The etching rate depends on the partial pressure of the etching gas and on the power of the lowvoltage arc discharge. By application of a pulsating auxiliary voltage to the workpieces or to their carrivers the effectiveness of the etching process is also significantly increased. So for instance an etching rate of 5 nm/min was observed during etching of monocrystalline silicon in the region of low pressures (0.3 pascal) with an arc discharge of 500 watt.
By auxiliary voltage on the workpiece carrier (power of 40 watt) the rate could be increased to 26 nm/min.
The term "etching" is intended to mean all acting on to surfaces of workpieces which results in chemical action so that the surface layer may either be removed directly by etching itself or can easily be removed subsequently. Etching in the framework of this specification includes therefore also the removal of particles of a surface layer e.g. by the action of an etching gas through a so-called etching mask, and also e.g. changing of an auxiliary layer which is to be fully or partly removed. An example of the lastmentioned process is the so-called etching-off the layers of photosensitive material mentioned above.
The term "low voltage arc discharge" used in this specification means any electric discharge, (including discharge with the use of alternating current) between an anode and a cathode, which to be maintained needs a discharge voltage below 300 volts and the current density of which is at least 10 milliampere/cm2.

Claims (12)

1. A method of etching the surfaces of workpieces by gas activated by electric gas discharge wherein a low-voltage arc discharge between a thermionic cathode and an anode is maintained in the etching chamber in an atmosphere containing said gas, the workpieces to be etched being arranged outside the discharge arc.
2. A method according to Claim 1 wherein the thermionic cathode is situated in a separate chamber containing a protective atmosphere and the anode in the etching chamber, the etching chamber and the cathode chamber communicating with each other through an aperture constricting the discharge.
3. A method according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein the anode is maintained at a temperature of at least 300 C.
4. A method according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein the workpieces ortheir carrier are supplied with an auxiliary voltage.
5. A method according to any one of Claim 1 to 4 wherein the shape of the flanks of the structures to be etched is adjusted by the gas pressure in the etching chamber.
6. A method according to Claim 4 or Claim 5 when appendentto Claim 4, wherein the shape of the flanks of the structures to be etched is adjusted by the auxiliary voltage.
7. A method according to any one of Claims 1 to 6 wherein the gas pressure in the etching chamber is varied during the process.
8. A method according to Claim 7 wherein the auxiliary voltage is varied during the process.
9. A method of etching the surfaces of workpieces by gas activated by electric gas discharge substantially as herein described with reference to Examples 1 to 4.
10. An apparatus for carrying outthe method according to any one of Claims 1 to 9 constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as herein described with reference to, and as shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.
11. A product made by, or with the use of, a method according to any one of Claims 1 to 9.
12. A product made in, or with the use of, an apparatus according to Claim 10.
GB8015435A 1979-05-29 1980-05-09 Plasma etching Withdrawn GB2049560A (en)

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Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
CH496779 1979-05-29

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JP (1) JPS5641380A (en)
DE (1) DE3015296A1 (en)
FR (1) FR2457910A1 (en)
GB (1) GB2049560A (en)

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0100079A2 (en) * 1982-07-26 1984-02-08 The Perkin-Elmer Corporation Dry resist development using downstream plasma generation
WO1997034315A1 (en) * 1996-03-11 1997-09-18 Balzers Aktiengesellschaft Method and apparatus for the coating of workpieces
WO2001065587A1 (en) * 2000-03-03 2001-09-07 Cobes Gmbh Nachrichten- Und Datentechnik Method and device for plasma-treating the surface of substrates by ion bombardment
WO2008039465A2 (en) * 2006-09-25 2008-04-03 E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company Method for removing surface deposits in the interior of a chemical vapor deposition reactor

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE19725930C2 (en) * 1997-06-16 2002-07-18 Eberhard Moll Gmbh Dr Process and system for treating substrates using ions from a low-voltage arc discharge

Cited By (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0100079A2 (en) * 1982-07-26 1984-02-08 The Perkin-Elmer Corporation Dry resist development using downstream plasma generation
EP0100079A3 (en) * 1982-07-26 1984-12-19 The Perkin-Elmer Corporation Dry resist development using downstream plasma generation
WO1997034315A1 (en) * 1996-03-11 1997-09-18 Balzers Aktiengesellschaft Method and apparatus for the coating of workpieces
WO2001065587A1 (en) * 2000-03-03 2001-09-07 Cobes Gmbh Nachrichten- Und Datentechnik Method and device for plasma-treating the surface of substrates by ion bombardment
US7165506B2 (en) * 2000-03-03 2007-01-23 Cobes Gmbh Nachrichten- Und Datentechnik Method and device for plasma-treating the surface of substrates by ion bombardment
WO2008039465A2 (en) * 2006-09-25 2008-04-03 E. I. Du Pont De Nemours And Company Method for removing surface deposits in the interior of a chemical vapor deposition reactor
WO2008039465A3 (en) * 2006-09-25 2008-12-18 Du Pont Method for removing surface deposits in the interior of a chemical vapor deposition reactor

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Publication number Publication date
FR2457910A1 (en) 1980-12-26
DE3015296A1 (en) 1980-12-11
JPS5641380A (en) 1981-04-18

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