Plasma Etching | Plasma Etcher

Plasma etching is a form of surface treatment in which larger quantities of material are impacted and removed. Plasma etching leads to a deep structuring of the surface.

Plasma Etching - How it Works

Reactive ions that are created within the plasma react with surface atoms. The resultant volatile side products are removed from the chamber with the plasma gas. The plasma etching process can be modified further by adding activated neutral (uncharged) molecules to the process.

There are two main options for plasma etching:

Without etching masks- Plasma etching generates a uniform roughness which makes paints and glues adhere to high-temperature resistant polymers such as PTFE (better known as Teflon).
With the aid of etching masks- Plasma etching carves a controlled, functional microstructure into the surface.

While plasma etching with masks, it is important to control the direction of material removal. Isotropic plasma etching will lead to a “ballooning” of cavities under the mask, while anisotropic plasma etching will result in pits with almost vertical walls. Control is mostly achieved by adjusting the chemistry (different gases used in chamber) of the plasma etching procedure. With a Diener plasma system, all these options are available.

Plasma Etching - Users and Uses

Semiconductor technology – plasma etching is the main tool during the
production process of integrated circuits, including the ashing of photoresists.
Medical technology – plasma etching enables the coating and joining of inert, biocompatible materials which would not stick together otherwise.
Painting technology - Etching is used for paint and glue adhesion with high temperature resistant plastics; examples include PTFE, PFA, and FEP (types of Teflon).

Our Plasma Services:

free process development
test or rental of our Plasma Systems
sale and support
contract services

For any questions please contact us.

Thierry Corporation (Michigan / USA)
Phone:+1 (248) 549 8565
plasma(at)thierry-corp.com

Plasma Etching

: PTFE untreated.

: Etched PTFE.

Plasma Etch

A Plasma etch refers to a plasma treatment that removes portions or layers from a substrate surface. Plasma etching is used in a number of applications to increase adhesion, clean, or to carve patterns into objects. Plasma etching can be conducted as an isotropic etch (etching in all directions) or anisotropic etch (etching in a single direction). Isotropic etching is used to remove material from a large surface whereas anisotropic etching is used to etch patterns into substrates.

Plasma Etch Uses

Plasma etching is used extensively in the semi-conductor and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) industries. For example, in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards (PCBs), isotropic etching is used to plasma clean circuits after machining (a process termed desmearing) and prior to electroplating. Anisotropic etching is used to form circuit patterns in wafers. The anisotropic plasma etching in this application is highly energetic and called reactive ion etching (RIE).

Plasma Etching Method

Plasma etching is delivered by a plasma etcher which is very similar to other vacuum plasma systems. A reactive ion etcher achieves the anisotropic flow of the ions by having electrodes on either side of the object surface to be etched. The ions travel from one electrode to the other bombarding the substrate surface at a perpendicular angle. To achieve the uniformity required for PCB manufacture, a gas shower is also used to uniformly distribute the process gas into the vacuum chamber near the substrate surface. The use of a gas shower increases the homogeneity of the plasma from approximately 70% to greater than 95%.

Plasma Etching in Research and Industry

Plasma etchers are available in a variety of sizes. Industrial large chamber plasma systems can be as large as 12,600 Liters (approximately 3,333 gallons). These systems are custom built to meet unique challenges of large scale plasma processing. Other plasma systems convey parts on a tray that doubles as the plasma chamber floor. Parts to be processed are conveyed to the plasma chamber, raised into it, treated, lowered and conveyed to the next step.