Invited Paper PS2-TuA10
2011 AVS John A. Thornton Award Lecture - As Device Dimensions Continue to Shrink… A Journey Through Thirty Years of Plasma Etching Diagnostics and Mechanisms

Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 5:00 pm, Room 201

With each new generation of integrated circuits and reduction in transistor and interconnect dimensions, plasma etching of fine features in silicon, aluminum and insulating thin films encounters new sets of challenges. Over the past thirty years, our understanding and control of plasma etching processes has greatly improved, due to the advances in diagnostic techniques and basic mechanistic studies, combined with advanced modeling methods. This talk will review studies, mostly from our laboratories, spanning this era with an emphasis on the connections between studies, the influence of other fields, and the interactions between collaborators and colleagues. Some old controversies will be revisited and perhaps revived.