PLASMA PROCESSING

Low pressure, non-equilibrium, weakly to partially ionized gas discharge plasmas are used for a variety of surface materials processing applications. The most extensive applications are in microelectronics manufacturing, where plasma sputtering, etching, stripping, cleaning and film deposition play key roles in this growing industry. Up to 30% of all process steps in integrated circuit manufacture involve low pressure plasmas in one way or another. The rapid pace of process and product technological change in this industry, coupled with the unique capabilities of plasma processing for extremely finely controlled surface modification, offers new opportunities to plasma scientists.