Dry and plasma etching

The Oxford 100 is critical to several research applications at Yale. It has the largest variety of etch gases available and can handle the largest variety of research samples, including III-V materials, semiconductors, and select metals.  This load-locked system requires samples to either be 4-inch wafers or mounted on 4-inch wafers. In addition to deep silicon etching, this system is also capable of etching a limited selection of dielectrics and other materials.

• Tool manager: Yong Sun
• Gas selection: Cl2, BCl3, CH4, SF6, CHF3, CF4, O2, Ar, H2
• Coil and bias powers: 600 W and 3000 W
• Compatible materials*: Si, SiO, SiN, GaAs, GaN, Al, AlN, AlO, LiNbO, InP, Parylene, HBN, FTO, MoS2, carbon, Ni, SiC, +PR, -PR, PMMA
• Banned materials*: Au, Ag, Pt, Cu, magnetics
  * Due to the ever-changing nature of research and the sensitive nature of the equipment, these lists are incomplete. Please contact a staff member to discuss etch plans before attempting to introduce a new material to the system.
• Internal rate: $64.00/hour

The Oxford Plasmalab 80 Plus Inductively Coupled Plasma Reactive Ion Etcher (ICP RIE) provides etching capability for superconductors and select other “clean” materials. It uses fluorine chemistry along with oxygen and argon to etch films on the nanometer-to-micron scale. This open-load system has a 2-inch graphite clamp for use with helium backside cooling as well as replaceable quartz and graphite platens for different etch chemistries.

• Tool manager: Yong Sun
• Gas selection: O2, SF6, CF4, CHF3, Ar
• Coil and bias powers: 600 W and 600 W
• Allowed materials*: Si, SiO, SiN, Nb, NbN, Ta, Ge, positive resist, PMMA
• Banned materials*: Au, Ag, Pt, Cu, most other materials.
  * Due to the ever-changing nature of research and the sensitive nature of the equipment, these lists are incomplete. Please contact a staff member to discuss etch plans before attempting to etch a new material.
• Internal rate: $64.00/hour

The Oxford Cryo Bosch Deep Reactive Ion Etcher (DRIE) is a specialized ICP RIE etcher. It can perform high aspect-ratio etches in silicon on the scale of hundreds of microns. It accomplishes this using either the Bosch multiplex process or the cryogenic etch process. Common applications for this tool involve microfluidics, PDMS mold development, and MEMS applications. This load-locked system requires samples to either be 4-inch wafers or mounted on 4-inch wafers. In addition to deep silicon etching, this system is also capable of etching a limited selection of dielectrics and other materials.

• Tool manager: Yong Sun
• Gas selection: O2, SF6, C4F8, Ar, CF4, CHF3
• Coil and bias powers: 600 W and 3000 W
• Allowed materials*: Si, SiO, SiN, Al, Al2O3, AlN, Ni, Cr, Positive resist, PMMA
• Banned materials*: Most other materials.
  * Due to the ever-changing nature of research and the sensitive nature of the equipment, these lists are incomplete. Please contact a staff member to discuss etch plans before attempting to etch a new material.
• Internal rate: $64.00/hour

The AutoGlow 200 is a basic plasma asher, enabled with O2 and Ar for substrate cleaning, descumming, and surface treatment. It can operate between 50 W and 300 W, typically at 300 mTorr. The two-level table design creates separate zones for high power film removal and low power cleaning. Note that the relationship between power and etch rate aren’t necessarily linear.

• Tool manager: Yong Sun
• RIE power: 50 W - 300 W
• Allowed materials: Most materials. Check with a staff member before using.
• Internal rate: included with cleanroom access

Ideal for MEMS device release, the XactiX XeF2 uses vapor to spontaneously react with silicon in a high selectivity etch process. It etches isotropically and is ideal for situations where under ten percent of the sample is exposed.
 

• Tool manager: Yong Sun
• Internal rate: included with cleanroom access