XeF2 Etching Talk

[Christopher Kenney]

Xenon Difluoride Etching


Wednesday at 2:30 in the CISX 
Auditorium

Rosemary M. Dahlberg

XACTIX, Inc.

Xenon difluoride is used for the isotropic etching of 
silicon, mainly for microstructure release processes, 
undercutting, smoothing of sharp edges, and for any 
application in which you need high selectivity 
isotropic etching. Etch rates up to 10 microns per 
minute. Are you involved in MEMS or 
semiconductor processing?  Are your etching 
silicon as your sacrificial layer? Are you tired of 
dealing with wet etching release processes? Do you 
wish that you could do extended isotropic etching 
of silicon with only a photoresist mask?  Are you 
concerned about the survival of your released 
structures during drying, or final device packaging?  
Then consider an xenon difluoride etching system 
solution: - Xenon difluoride etching shows very 
high selectivity to silicon over many standard 
semiconductor materials including photoresist, 
silicon dioxide, silicon nitride, and aluminum. - 
Xenon difluoride etching is a clean, dry process that 
is potentially CMOS-neutral. - Depending on your 
device and its package design, XeF2 can release 
your structures after bonding and packaging. - A 
versatile, computer controlled system capable of 
handling dies, pieces of wafers, and wafers up to 8" 
diameter will be described.