Corial announces hard materials deep etch processes
Corial, a French supplier of etch and deposition process solutions and equipment, has announced the availability of hard materials deep etch processes using a new generation of 200 mm inductively coupled plasma reactive-ion etching (ICP-RIE) equipment.
Deep etching of silicon, achieved via Bosch or cryogenic microfabrication technologies, is routinely used for MEMS manufacturing to create micro-structures with high depth and high aspect ratios. Now, a number of hard materials typically glass, quartz, SiC and LiTaO3 are gaining interest in the MEMS and packaging industries. One of the main challenges for the adoption of these hard materials is the ability to create deep structures using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) processes.
"With this new generation of 200 mm ICP-RIE equipment, not only new customers will benefit from enlarged process capabilities towards deep etching of hard materials, but contracted customers would also be able to get access to this technology through system upgrades", said Elsa Bernard-Moulin, marketing manager at Corial.
"We have upgraded our ICP-RIE equipment with features such as high power (2 KW) ICP source, high power (1 KW) RF bias supply, retractable quartz liner to protect the reactor walls, higher capacity turbo pump, or optimised system for wafer cooling", claims Bernard-Moulin. "These system upgrades, combined with the experience of our application specialists have enabled us to develop hard materials DRIE processes with high etch rate, superior profile control, smooth surface, excellent selectivity and anisotropic profile for more than 100 µm depth".
