| AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology Division | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session PS+SS-TuA |
| Session: | The Science of Plasmas and Surfaces: Commemorating the Career of Harold Winters (ALL INVITED SESSION) |
| Presenter: | R.Mohan Sankaran, Case Western Reserve University |
| Authors: | R.M. Sankaran, Case Western Reserve University M.C.M. van de Sanden, FOM Institute DIFFER, Netherlands |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The Coburn and Winters paper1 is a hallmark contribution in the field of plasma processing. The study revealed very simply and cleverly the role of a plasma in reactive ion etching. When a silicon (Si) surface was exposed to an argon (Ar) ion beam alone or xenon difluoride (XeF2) alone, the etch rate was found to be negligible. This showed that physical sputtering and chemical etching in the former and latter cases, respectively, could not effectively etch Si. In stark contrast, combining the Ar ion beam and XeF2 resulted in a significantly higher etch rate, underscoring the synergistic mechanism of fluorine radicals reacting with the Si surface and Ar ions bombarding and kicking them off to ultimately remove Si atoms. The legacy of these experiments is not only the technological impact it has had on applications of plasma processes to semiconductor manufacturing, but, more broadly speaking, the foundation it has laid for plasma science by demonstrating how a complex system can be unraveled to yield simple correlations. This is reflected here every year at AVS where the etching sessions continue to be the largest of all the sessions in the Plasma Science and Technology Division. In this introductory talk to the session commemorating Harold Winters, a history of the Coburns and Winters experiment and its impact on plasma science and technology will be presented.
1. J. W. Coburn and H. F. Winters, J. Appl. Phys.50, 3189 (1979).