This paper reports on a practical modification of the two-step time-multiplexed plasma etching recipe (also known as the Bosch process) to chieve high aspect-ratio sub-micron wide trenches in silicon. Mixed argon and oxygen plasma depassivation steps are introduced in between the assivation and etching phases to promote the anisotropic removal of the passivation layer at the base of the trench....

This work compares structural and optical properties of silicon nanocrystals prepared by two fundamentally different methods, namely, electrochemical etching of Si wafers and low-pressure plasma synthesis, completed with a mechano-photo-chemical treatment. This treatment leads to surface passivation of the nanoparticles by methyl groups. Plasma synthesis unlike electrochemical etching allows se...

Cl2, Br2, HBr, Br2/Cl2, and HBr/Cl2 feed gases diluted in Ar (50%–50% by volume) were used to study etching of p-type Si(100) in a rf inductively coupled, Faraday-shielded plasma, with a focus on the photo-assisted etching component. Etching rates were measured as a function of ion energy. Etching at ion energies below the threshold for ion-assisted etching was observed in all cases, with Br2/A...

Optical modeling of iridium thin film erosion under oxygen plasma exposure*" (2004). This work is motivated by interest in use of iridium metal films in the space environment. Optical metrology is a sensitive tool for study of film roughness, optical constants, and microstructural properties. In the present paper, in situ spectroscopic ellipsometry is applied to monitor oxygen plasma etching of...

A one-step maskless oxygen plasma etching process is investigated to nanopattern conjugated polymer dodecylbenzenesulfonate doped polypyrrole (PPy(DBS)) and to examine the effects of nanostructures on the inherent tunable wettability of the surface and the droplet mobility. Etching characteristics such as the geometry and dimensions of the nanostructures are systematically examined for the etch...

The interaction of plasmas with surfaces is dominated by synergistic effects between incident ions and radicals. Film growth is accelerated by the ions, providing adsorption sites for incoming radicals. Chemical etching is accelerated by incident ions when chemical etching products are removed from the surface by ion sputtering. The latter is the essence of anisotropic etching in microelectroni...

Wafer-to-wafer process reproducibility during plasma etching often depends on the conditioning of the inside surfaces of the reactor. Passivation of reactor surfaces by plasma generated species, often called seasoning, can change the reactive sticking coefficients of radicals, thereby changing the composition of the radical and ion fluxes to the wafer. Ion bombardment of the walls may influence...

Technical Description of the Work Decommissioning of transuranic waste (TRU) into low-level radioactive waste (LLW) represents the largest cleanup cost associated with the nuclear weapons complex. This work is directed towards developing a low-cost plasma technology capable of converting TRU into LLW, based upon highly selective plasma etching of plutonium and other actinides from contaminated ...

Nanostructuring of ultrathin HfO2 films deposited on GaAs (001) substrates by high-resolution Lloyd's mirror laser interference nanolithography is described. Pattern transfer to the HfO2 film was carried out by reactive ion beam etching using CF4 and O2 plasmas. A combination of atomic force microscopy, high-resolution scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microsco...

This paper reports research on deep etching of silicon carbide (SiC) to achieve isolated trenches in the same thick SiC substrates. combines both plasma and electrochemical p-type above n-type layers. Uniform