Ideal Vacuum XFE-5 Dry Mobile XeF2 Etching Small System

The Ideal Vacuum XFE-5 Dry is a Xenon Difluoride (XeF2) Etch System, utilizes a completely dry process eliminating the stiction that typically occur during wet etching process. Our Ideal Vacuum XFE-5 Dry Etching System offers better performance than any other etch system in the market now days with etchant, etched depth, and instantaneous etch rate for Silicon (Si) etching with XeF2 in a pulsed etching system in real time.

The traditional Techniques used with our XFE-5 Dry Etch System offers better performance on the nonlinear etch process, with the initial etch rate being the highest and monotonically decreasing as the etchant is being depleted. With an initial pressure of 565 mTorr of XeF2 an instantaneous etch rate of 4.1 µm/min in Silicon was recorded.

Dry etching of Silicon with XeF2 has been widely employed due to its ability to isotropically etch Silicon without the damaging effects of liquid etchants or plasmas. Dry etching with plasmas solved many of the problems that liquid etchants had due to alleviation of the surface tension issue. There are two configurations of etching systems in which XeF2 is commonly employed: a continuous etching system and a pulsed etching system. In the continuous etching system an open-volume etching system is utilized wherein a constant flow of XeF2 is allowed to pass over the sample. This configuration was more commonly found when XeF2 was initially conceived of for the etching of Silicon, particularly in the late 70’s and 80’s. In more recent times, XeF2 is more commonly found in a pulsed etching configuration, wherein a pulse of XeF2 is allowed into a closed-volume etching chamber. This method is commonly preferred because XeF2 is typically used to remove sacrificial layers of Silicon where the etch rate need not be constant or controlled. Additionally, the requirements of the equipment for the etching chamber are relaxed considerably. In a pulsed etching system by simply measuring the pressure change of the system, correlations can be made between pressure and the depletion of the etchant, etched depth, instantaneous etch rate and other factors tied to these values. Using the technique described herein, better process control can be attained with XeF2 etching of Silicon.

The XFE-5 Dry Etch System from Ideal Vacuum, is the result of extensive research and countless experiments to make sure we will offer the best system in the market with a great performance, mobility on a compact system ready to use with a dry scroll pump included. Please give us a call to answer your questions.