Dry Etching Research Lab

Bristol University, School of Chemistry

The dry etching lab at Bristol is concerned with all aspects of plasma chemistry, especially with regard to dry etching of semiconductor materials. We presently have 1 reactive ion etcher, based on the Electrotech Omega 2, which is used for a variety of projects. Nowadays, we are mainly concentrating on the deposition of CVD diamond and DLC films, but we still perform the occassional dry etch project. Recent studies have included:

• Optical emission studies of GaAs etching using CF₂Cl₂.
• Optical and mass spectroscopic investigations of CF₄/O₂ etching of Si.
• Studies of CH₄/H₂ etching of InP and Si/Ge alloys.
• RIE etching of diamond thin films for use in CVD diamond devices and displays.
• A study of ion bombardment and ion energy distributions during RIE using a retarding field analyser.
• A detailed theoretical model of the electrical potentials within RIE plasmas, and how they relate to the observed sidewall profiles seen in etching.

More details of these are given on the references page.

Personnel

• Dr Paul W. May : interests also include:
  
  • CVD diamond films
  • Sputtering of interstellar dust grains
  • Use of the WWW, especially for teaching
  
  
• Dr David Field : interests also include :
  
  • interstellar masers
  • Sputtering of interstellar dust grains
  • electron/molecule collisions and scattering phenomena.

Back to Physical Chemistry Home page, or Bristol University Chemistry Dept Home Page.

. Paul May