Recent progress of wet etching of Z-cut LN, of inductively coupled plasma (ICP-) etching of X-cut LN, and of ICP-etching of proton-exchanged X-cut LN is reported to fabricate low loss ridge guides, micromechanical, and photonic crystal structures. Introduction The development of lithium niobate (LiNbO3, LN) integrated optical devices requires etching techniques for a reliable fabrication of dee...

The SEMATECH sponsored J-88-E project teaming Texas Instruments with NeuroDyne (et al) focused on Fault Detection and Classification (FDC) on a Lam 9600 aluminum plasma etch reactor, used in the process of semiconductor fabrication. Fault classification was accomplished by implementing a series of virtual sensor models which used data from real sensors (Lam Station sensors, Optical Emission Spe...

Silicon oxide-based materials such as quartz and silica are widely used in Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS). One way to enhance capability of their deep plasma etching is to increase selectivity by the use of hard masks. Though this approach was studied previously, information on the use of hard masks for etching of silicon-oxide based materials on 200 mm substrates is scarce. We present r...

INTRODUCTION The medical use of non-thermal physical plasmas is intensively investigated for sterilization and surface modification of biomedical materials. A further promising application is the removal or etching of organic substances, e.g., biofilms, from surfaces, because remnants of biofilms after conventional cleaning procedures are capable to entertain inflammatory processes in the adjac...

Plasma-surface interactions during plasma etching are important in that, in addition to determining the rate and quality of the etch, they can also influence the properties of the bulk plasma. To address this coupling of bulk and surface processes the surface kinetics model ~SKM! was developed as a module in the two-dimensional hybrid plasma equipment model ~HPEM! with the goal of combining pla...

Dielectric insulators with patterned topographic relief were used in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasmas operating at atmospheric pressure to spatially define the formation of filamentary microdischarges (“plasma streamers”). Precise localization microdischarge streamers is demonstrated concomitant treatment patterns on surfaces, enabling localized etching, surface micro-texturing, and c...

We introduce a simple, resist-free dry etch mask for producing patterns in diamond, both bulk and thin deposited films. Direct gallium ion beam exposure of the native diamond surface to doses as low as 10 cm forms a top surface hard mask resistant to both oxygen plasma chemical dry etching and, unexpectedly, argon plasma physical dry etching. Gallium implant hard masks of nominal 50 nm thicknes...