RIE

Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) is the simplest configuration of dry etching equipment. It refers to a parallel plate hardware arrangement where the substrate is placed on a biased electrode (the cathode) facing a grounded electrode. RIE processes are known for higher pressure operating regimes.

Because only bias power is used for plasma generation and acceleration of ions to the cathode, independent control of these two processes, which is possible with ICP technology, is not available in RIE systems.

Plasma-Therm has been building RIE systems since the early 1970s with applications in Al metal etching on Inline systems. Today, RIE processes are offered on the Vision Series and VERSALINE platforms. RIE processes can also be used for surface preparation prior to deposition or other process steps.