Plasma CVM (Chemical Vaporization Machining): – A Chemical Machining Method With Equal Performances to Conventional Mechanical Methods from the Sense of Removal Rates and Spatial Resolutions –

Conventional machining processes, such as turning, grinding, or lapping are still applied for many materials including functional ones. But those processes are accompanied with deformed layer, so that machined surfaces can not perform original functions. In order to avoid such points, Plasma CVM has been developed. Plasma CVM is a chemical machining method utilizing radical reaction. In Plasma CVM, high density radicals are generated in the plasma under the atmospheric pressure, so that removal rate is very high(ex. > 200μm/min for Si), and it is equal to mechanical machining methods. In this paper, basic concepts and some applications of Plasma CVM will be introduced.