Etching is a broad term that is used to describe the removal of material from your sample. The sub categories may be helpful for narrowing down your search, and be aware that there may be more than one technique and/or tool that could be used for your process. 

  • Dry etching uses gaseous chemistries and plasma energy to etch materials from the sample. 
  • Wet etching uses liquid chemistries to etch materials from samples. 
  • Vapor etching uses HF Vapor to etch materials. It is primarily used to etch structures that would be damaged during the rinse and dry process in a standard wet etch.
Processing Technique Equipment name & NEMO IDsort descending Cleanliness Chemicals Primary Materials Etched Other Materials Etched Substrate Size Maximum Load (number of wafers) Process Temperature Range Gases Notes Stylus Tip Radius
Downstream/Remote Plasma Resist Removal, Downstream/Remote Plasma Etching Gasonics Aura Asher
gasonics 		Clean, Semiclean
25

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
25

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
25

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
1

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
1

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
1

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 		Flexible
1
-10 °C - 60 °C
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP) Oxford Plasma Pro ICP-RIE ALE
Ox-ALE 		Flexible
1
0 °C - 40 °C
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP) Oxford Plasma Pro ICP-RIE Ox
Ox-Ox 		Clean
1
-20 °C - 40 °C
Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching (ICP) Plasma Therm Versaline LL ICP Deep Silicon Etcher
PT-DSE 		Flexible
1

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
1

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
1

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
Multiple

Low power, high pressure plasma; low bias, minimal damage. Often used for surface treatment.
Plasma Mode Etching, Reactive Ion Etching (RIE), Downstream/Remote Plasma Resist Removal Samco PC300 Plasma Etch System
samco 		Flexible
Four 4" wafers or two 6" wafers and one 8" wafer
20 ºC
Vapor Etching SPTS uetch vapor etch
uetch 		"All"
1

Pieces need a carrier wafer; Isotropic Etching
Dry Resist Removal, Dry Etching Technics Asher
technics 		Flexible
Four 4" wafers to pieces, one 6" or 8" wafer
Silicon Nitride Wet Etching, Wet Chemical Processing Wet Bench Clean_res- hotphos
wbclean_res-hotphos 		Clean

Resist should have been removed
Silicon Oxide Wet Etching, Wet Chemical Processing Wet Bench Clean_res-hf
wbclean_res-hf 		Clean

Resist as mask allowed
Aluminum and Titanium and Tungsten Wet Etching, Wet Chemical Processing Wet Bench CMOS Metal
wbclean3 		Semiclean
25 wafers

Al, Ti, or W wet etching or oxide etching
Decontamination, Metal Clean, Piranha Cleaning, Wet Resist Removal, Acid or Base Wet Etching, Aluminum and Titanium and Tungsten Wet Etching, Silicon Wet Etching, Silicon Oxide Wet Etching, Wet Chemical Processing Wet Bench Flexcorr 1
wbflexcorr-1 		Flexible

Manual wet etching of non-standard materials. Hot plate available. GaAs allowed in personal labware only.

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