Imperial College London

Dr Ben Almquist FIMMM

Faculty of EngineeringDepartment of Bioengineering

Senior Lecturer
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 6494b.almquist Website

 
 
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Location

 

413Royal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Sun:2018:10.26434/chemrxiv.6128237.v1,
author = {Sun, J and Almquist, B},
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.6128237.v1},
title = {Metal-Assisted Plasma Etching of Silicon: A Liquid-Free Alternative to MACE},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv.6128237.v1},
year = {2018}
}

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB - <jats:p>For decades, fabrication of semiconductor devices has utilized well-established etching techniques to create complex nanostructures in silicon. Of these, two of the most common are reactive ion etching in the gaseous phase and metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) in the liquid phase. Though these two methods are highly established and characterized, there is a surprising scarcity of reports exploring the ability of metallic films to catalytically enhance the etching of silicon in dry plasmas via a MACE-like mechanism. Here, we discuss a <jats:underline>m</jats:underline>etal-<jats:underline>a</jats:underline>ssisted <jats:underline>p</jats:underline>lasma <jats:underline>e</jats:underline>tch (MAPE) performed using patterned gold films to catalyze the etching of silicon in an SF<jats:sub>6</jats:sub>/O<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> mixed plasma, selectively increasing the rate of etching by over 1000%. The degree of enhancement as a function of Au catalyst configuration and relative oxygen feed concentration is characterized, along with the catalytic activities of other common MACE metals including Ag, Pt, and Cu. Finally, methods of controlling the etch process are briefly explored to demonstrate the potential for use as a liquid-free fabrication strategy.</jats:p>
AU - Sun,J
AU - Almquist,B
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.6128237.v1
PY - 2018///
TI - Metal-Assisted Plasma Etching of Silicon: A Liquid-Free Alternative to MACE
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv.6128237.v1
ER -