Pattern transfer by dry etching and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor de­ position are two of the cornerstone techniques for modern integrated cir­ cuit fabrication. The success of these methods has also sparked interest in their application to other techniques, such as surface-micromachined sen­ sors, read/write heads for data storage and magnetic random access memory (MRAM). The extremely complex chemistry and physics of plasmas and their interactions with the exposed surfaces of semiconductors and other materi­ als is often overlooked at the manufacturing stage. In this case, the process is optimized by an informed "trial-and-error" approach which relies heavily on design-of-experiment techniques and the intuition of the process engineer. The need for regular cleaning of plasma reactors to remove built-up reaction or precursor gas products adds an extra degree of complexity because the interaction of the reactive species in the plasma with the reactor walls can also have a strong effect on the number of these species available for etching or deposition. Since the microelectronics industry depends on having high process yields at each step of the fabrication process, it is imperative that a full understanding of plasma etching and deposition techniques be achieved.

Table of Contents:
1 Some Fundamental Aspects of Plasma-Assisted Etching.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 The Evolution of Plasma Etching Equipment.- 1.3 The Role of Ions in Reactive Ion Etching.- 1.4 The Influence of the Reactor Walls and Other Surfaces.- 1.5 Ion Beam-Based Methods.- 1.6 Summary.- References.- 2 Plasma Fundamentals for Materials Processing.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Single Particle Motion.- 2.3 Collision Processes.- 2.4 Velocity Distributions.- 2.5 Sheaths.- 2.6 Plasma Transport.- 2.7 Dielectric Properties.- 2.8 Plasma Sources for Thin Films Processing.- References.- 3 Plasma Modeling.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Historical Perspective.- 3.3 Plasma Modeling Issues.- 3.4 Chemical Reaction Mechanisms.- 3.5 Examples of Application of Plasma Modeling to Design or Optimization.- 3.6 Future Directions of Plasma Modeling.- References.- 4 Plasma Reactor Modeling.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Reactor Scale Model.- 4.3 Feature Level Modeling.- 4.4 Database Needs.- 4.5 Concluding Remarks.- References.- 5 Overview of Plasma Diagnostic Techniques.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Plasma Electrical Characterization.- 5.3 Optical Diagnostic Techniques.- References.- 6 Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Plasma Etching Processes.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Application to Fundamental Studies.- 6.3 Application in Etch Processing Reactors.- 6.4 Summary and Future Directions.- References.- 7 Fundamentals of Plasma Process-Induced Charging and Damage.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 The Origin of Pattern-Dependent Charging.- 7.3 The Notching Effect.- 7.4 Other Profile Effects Influenced by Charging.- 7.5 Gate Oxide Degradation.- 7.6 Charging Reduction Methodology.- 7.7 Concluding Remarks.- References.- 8 Surface Damage Induced by Dry Etching.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 Surface Damage in Si.- 8.3 Surface Damage in III-V Semiconductors.- 8.4 Damage Removal.- 8.5 Summary.- References.- 9 Photomask Etching.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2 Optical Lithography.- 9.3 X-Ray Lithography.- 9.4 SCALPEL.- 9.5 EUVL.- 9.6 Ion Projection Lithography.- 9.7 IPL Mask Distortion Issues.- 9.8 Conclusion.- References.- 10 Bulk Si Micromachining for Integrated Microsystems and MEMS Processing.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 Etch Technologies.- 10.3 ECR Results.- 10.4 DRIE Results.- 10.5 DRIE Applications.- 10.6 Conclusions.- References.- 11 Plasma Processing of III-V Materials.- 11.1 Introduction.- 11.2 Dry Etching Techniques.- 11.3 Masking Materials and Methods.- 11.4 Dry Etching Chemistries.- 11.5 Dry Etching of GaAs and Related Materials.- 11.6 Dry Etching of InP and Related Materials.- 11.7 Dry Etching of GaN and Related Materials.- 11.8 Selective Dry Etching of III-V Materials.- 11.9 Conclusion.- References.- 12 Ion Beam Etching of Compound Semiconductors.- 12.1 Introduction.- 12.2 Definitions.- 12.3 Ion Sources.- 12.4 Historic Development.- 12.5 Grid Design, Beam Uniformity, and Divergence.- 12.6 Brief Overview of Etching Kinetics and Chemistry.- 12.7 Surface Quality and Etch Masking.- 12.8 RIBE Etch Technology.- 12.9 CAIBE Etch Technology.- 12.10 Endpoint Detection.- 12.11 Damage.- References.- 13 Dry Etching of InP Vias.- 13.1 Introduction.- 13.2 Past Difficulties in Obtaining High Rate Etching for InP.- 13.3 High Density Plasma Sources for High InP Etch Rate.- 13.4 Measurement of Plasma Heating for InP Etching.- 13.5 Application to Via Hole Etching.- 13.6 Summary.- References.- 14 Device Damage During Low Temperature High-Density Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition.- 14.1 Introduction.- 14.2 Experimental.- 14.3 Results and Discussion.- 14.4 Summary and Conclusions.- References.- 15 Dry Etching of Magnetic Materials.- 15.1Introduction.- 15.2 Ion Milling.- 15.3 Cl2-Based ICP Etching of NiFe and Related Materials.- 15.4 Copper Dry Etching in Cl2/Ar.- 15.5 CO/NH3 Etching of Magnetic Materials.- 15.6 ECR and ICP Etching of NiMnSb.- 15.7 Dry Etching of LaCaMnOx and SmCo.- 15.8 Summary and Conclusions.- References.