Plasma etching with surface magnetic field confinement

Abstract

A plasma etching reactor is described which combines a primary electron source, surface magnetic field confinement, and independently controlled substrate biasing. Preliminary measurements show that the reactor produces a large volume of dense plasma at low pressure. The plasma parameters are uniform to within ±1% over the working volume, with almost no perturbing radio-frequency electric fields. Profiles can be etched into polysilicon in CF4 plasmas with etch rates ≥2000 Å/min.