Dry Etching

Dry etching refers to the processes that use energetic gaseous species produced by a plasma to remove material. In order to modulate and control the etching conditions and characteristics, different types of plasma sources are utilized in the dry etching process and the equipment are categorized accordingly.

If you would like to learn about different types of dry etchers and how to chose your etcher, please visit the online dry etching course.

If you would like to see a summary of etchers for a specific material (i.e. SiO₂or poly silicon) please visit the materials page.

Technique Tabs

Main Tab

Processing Techniques	Equipment name & NEMO ID	Teaser Blurb	Cleanliness	Location
Magnetically Enhanced RIE (MERIE)	AMAT P5000 Etcher p5000etch	P5000 is a magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching system (MERIE) for etching silicon based dielectrics (silicon dioxide, silcon nitride, etc.). P5000 is currently classified as CMOS restricted.	Clean, Clean (Ge), Semiclean	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Downstream/Remote Plasma Resist Removal, Downstream/Remote Plasma Etching	Gasonics Aura Asher gasonics	The Gasonics Aura Asher is an automated down stream microwave plasma system used for stripping photoresist of 4 inch wafers in the 'clean' cleanliness group.	Clean, Semiclean	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Lam Research TCP 9400 Poly Etcher lampoly	Lam 9400 TCP Poly Etcher ; Clean category; for poly and Si etches; maximum etch depth 3um.	Clean, Semiclean	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Downstream/Remote Plasma Resist Removal, Downstream/Remote Plasma Etching	Matrix Plasma Resist Strip matrix	The Matrix plasma asher is used to strip photoresist from contaminated wafers using a combination of oxygen plasma, high power, higher pressure and a heated chuck (platen).	Flexible	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)	MRC Reactive Ion Etcher mrc	The MRC is a general purpose, plasma reactive ion etching system, used to etch a variety of materials, including metals, oxides, nitrides, silicons, and some organic films.	Flexible	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)	Oxford Dielectric Etcher oxford-rie	Oxford-rie is to etch di-electric materials with fluorine based etch gases and oxygen.	Flexible	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Oxford III-V etcher Ox-35	Ox-35 is an ICP-RIE etch system configured for the etching of III-V materils and Si.	Flexible	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Oxford Plasma Pro ICP-RIE Ox-gen		Clean	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Plasma Therm Versaline LL ICP Deep Silicon Etcher PT-DSE	PT-DSE is an Deep Si etches using alternate gas technique similar to Bosch process.	Flexible	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Plasma Therm Versaline LL ICP Dielectric Etcher PT-Ox	PT-MTL is an ICP-RIE etch system configured for the etching of silicon oxide and deep glass/quartz etching.	Flexible	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Plasma Therm Versaline LL ICP Metal Etcher PT-MTL	PT-MTL is an ICP-RIE etch system configured for the etching of metals and metal-based compounds with volatile bi-products	Flexible	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)	Plasmaetch PE-50 plasma-etch	The Plasmaetch PE-50 is located in Venice, and is used primarily for surface treatment, for example with PDMS.	Flexible	SNF Exfab Paul G Allen 155 Mavericks
Plasma Mode Etching, Reactive Ion Etching (RIE), Downstream/Remote Plasma Resist Removal	Samco PC300 Plasma Etch System samco	The SAMCO etcher is a multifunctional etcher that can operate in either the RIE, plasma etch or Downstream plasma modes	Flexible	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107
Dry Resist Removal, Dry Etching	Technics Asher technics	Technics PE II-A is used for descum, resist strip and surface treatment with O2 plasma	Flexible	SNF Cleanroom Paul G Allen L107

Detail Tab

Processing Technique	Equipment name & NEMO ID	Cleanliness	Primary Materials Etched	Other Materials Etched	Substrate Size	Maximum Load (number of wafers)	Process Temperature Range	Gases	Notes
Magnetically Enhanced RIE (MERIE)	AMAT P5000 Etcher p5000etch	Clean, Clean (Ge), Semiclean	Si Si3N4 SiGe SiO₂ SiON	C C C dimethylpolysiloxane poly(p-xylylene) SiC Ti Various C-based W WSi₂ PI Resist Ti Tungsten				80% He/ 20%O₂ Ar CF₄ CHF₃ Cl₂ HBr He N₂ NF₃ O₂ SF₆
Downstream/Remote Plasma Resist Removal, Downstream/Remote Plasma Etching	Gasonics Aura Asher gasonics	Clean, Semiclean	Resist	PI	4"	25		O₂	Single wafer tool with auto loading from a cassette. Pieces need a pocket carrier wafer for transport. Wafers heated by lamps.
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Lam Research TCP 9400 Poly Etcher lampoly	Clean, Semiclean	Si	Ge SiGe	4"	25		80% He/ 20%O₂ C₂F₆ CF₄ Cl₂ HBr He N₂ O₂	Single wafer etch with auto-loading from a cassette. Equipment originally used for gate etching with high selectivity to thin gate oxides.
Downstream/Remote Plasma Resist Removal, Downstream/Remote Plasma Etching	Matrix Plasma Resist Strip matrix	Flexible	Resist	PI	4"	25		O₂	Single wafer tool with auto loading from a cassette. Pieces need a pocket carrier wafer for transport. Chuck temperature controls wafer heating.
Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)	MRC Reactive Ion Etcher mrc	Flexible	Metals Various Dielectrics	Metal oxides PI	Pieces 2" 3" 4" 6"	1		Ar CHClF₂ CHF₃ O₂ SF₆	Typically used for sputter etching; Single wafer, direct load system; wafers/ pieces can be directly placed on electrode
Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)	Oxford Dielectric Etcher oxford-rie	Flexible	Si3N4 SiC SiO₂ PI	C	4"	1		Ar CF₄ CHF₃ N₂ O₂ SF₆	4" wafers; can be adopted to do 6" or 8" wafers; pieces need to be bonded to carrier wafers
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Oxford III-V etcher Ox-35	Flexible	GaAs	AlGaN AlInP GaN InGaP InSb	4"	1		Ar BCl₃ CH₄ Cl₂ H₂ HBr N₂ O₂ SF₆	Metal etching or Metal hard masks are not allowed. 4" wafers; can be adopted to do 6" or 8" wafers; pieces need to be bonded to carrier wafers; Restrictions: III-V materials only.
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Oxford Plasma Pro ICP-RIE Ox-gen	Clean			Pieces 4" 6"	1	-10 °C - 60 °C	BCl₃ CF₄ Cl₂ O₂ SF₆
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Plasma Therm Versaline LL ICP Deep Silicon Etcher PT-DSE	Flexible	Si		4" 6"	1		Ar C₄F₈ O₂ SF₆	Single wafer; Bosch process for Si etching; Default 4" config; Can be converted to 6" config; pieces need to be attached to carrier wafer; need a support wafer for through wafer etching, can be used for Isotropic Si Etching
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Plasma Therm Versaline LL ICP Dielectric Etcher PT-Ox	Flexible	C Si3N4 SiC SiO₂	Various C-based	4" 6"	1		Ar C₄F₈ CF₄ CHF₃ H₂ He N₂ O₂	Single wafer; Default 4" config; Can be converted to 6" config; pieces need to be attached to carrier wafer; Restrictions: Can not etch metals or metal oxides with no volatile by-products (shorting & arcing issues)
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP)	Plasma Therm Versaline LL ICP Metal Etcher PT-MTL	Flexible	Metals or metal compounds with volatile byproducts Al	GaN	4" 6"	1		Ar BCl₃ CF₄ CH₄ Cl₂ N₂ O₂ SF₆	Single wafer; Default 4" config; Can be converted to 6" config; pieces need to be attached to carrier wafer; Restrictions: Can not etch metals or metal oxides with no volatile by-products (shorting & arcing issues)
Reactive Ion Etching (RIE)	Plasmaetch PE-50 plasma-etch	Flexible	Resist		Pieces 2" 3" 4" 6"	Multiple		78% N₂, 21% O₂, ~1% Ar	Low power, high pressure plasma; low bias, minimal damage. Often used for surface treatment At SNF - nSiL lab
Plasma Mode Etching, Reactive Ion Etching (RIE), Downstream/Remote Plasma Resist Removal	Samco PC300 Plasma Etch System samco	Flexible	Resist	dimethylpolysiloxane Si Si3N4 SiO₂ SiON Various polymers PI	Pieces 2" 3" 4" 6" 8" Other	Four 4" wafers or two 6" wafers and one 8" wafer	20 ºC	CF₄ O₂ SF₆
Dry Resist Removal, Dry Etching	Technics Asher technics	Flexible	Resist	dimethylpolysiloxane poly(p-xylylene) PI	Pieces 4" 6" 8"	Four 4" wafers to pieces, one 6" or 8" wafer		O₂