Plasma Etching for Silicon Device Technology

Abstract

The emergence of VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) in silicon device technology has resulted in the creation of major industries in the USA, Japan and Europe. The influence of VLSI on the design of military hardware, consumer products and telecommunications has stimulated a rapid advance in communication and presentation of information and could even herald fundamental changes in the pattern of employment and social structure. The developments in science and technology on which the industry is based and on which it depends to be economically viable have produced highly refined silicon crystal substrates as the basic raw material, thin film materials and patterning technology (currently reaching the limits set by optical wavelengths), and sophisticated packaging and device testing equipment. The next generation of silicon devices will range from chips capable of storing up to a million bits of information to signal processors with many levels of interconnect and minimum dimensions of about 1 micron.