PLASMA-BASED DRY ETCHING TECHNIQUES IN THE SILICON INTEGRATED-CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGY

Plasma-based dry etching techniques play a major role in the formation of silicon-based integrated circuits. The first part of this paper reviews our understanding of the means for achieving etching directionality and selectivity in reactive etching using glow discharges. Relevant trends in magnetically enhanced rf diode systems, microwave-excited electron cyclotron resonance plasmas, process clustering, real-time process monitoring and control, and computer modeling of glow discharges are discussed in the second part of the paper.