Dry etching

0604101-42

[DEFINITION]
An etching process in vapor phase by the physical and/or chemical reaction of the reactive gas or reactive plasma.

[DESCRIPTION]
Basically, a reactive gas generated by electrical energy reacts with the substrate and removes the material to form the desired shape or dimension. Etching methods are divided into plasma etching, which is an isotropic etching based on a chemical reaction, and ion etching, which is a directional etching that uses a physical reaction (sputtering). Dry etching, which uses one of these or both together, is extensively used in current LSI manufacturing processes.

[References]
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[Related Terms]
Wet etching