| AVS 65th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology Division | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session PS+PB-TuM |
| Session: | Plasma Medicine |
| Presenter: | Eitan Barlaz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Authors: | E. Barlaz, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign J. Mettler, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign D.N. Ruzic, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
We report on the development of a plasma etch process for Ti-6Al-7Nb, an alloy of titanium common for performance biomedical implants due to its excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. The process uses the same chlorine and oxygen chemistry common to etches of pure titanium, with added ion bombardment to remove reaction products with low volatility and to ensure minimal texturing of the surface. The process is capable of etch rates in excess of 50 nm/min in 50 mTorr of Argon and 20 mTorr of CCl4 using 50 W of RF power and a negative sample bias of > 500 Volts. Due to the need to produce irregularly shaped geometries, relative etch rates are reported for a variety of features including through holes and posts on representative parts. Plasma diagnostics including Langmuir and radical were applied to the process to compare the efficacy of both inductively coupled and surface wave plasma sources over large part sizes.