Reactive Ion-Beam Etching

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses reactive ion-beam etching (RIBE), which is the technique of removing material from a surface by impinging on it a beam of chemically reactive ions. In fact, RIBE has played a dual role in the evolution of dry-etching techniques for electronic device and integrated circuit applications. For as well as providing a vehicle for possible selective anisotropic etching, the nature of an ion-beam system makes the reactive ion-beam etcher well suited to the study of the interactions of ions, reactive neutrals, and surfaces. RIBE has been used to study the mechanisms of plasma-assisted etching processes, many of which occur in more common dry-etching systems, in which rf plasma excitation complicates their study. Distinctive features of RIBE when compared to other plasma-assisted etching techniques are that the ion energy, ion flux/unit area, and angle of incidence of the reactive ion beam can be independently controlled.