BSAC1: FTIR In Situ Depth Measurement System for DRIE

An in-situ, real-time metrology system was developed, integrated, and tested for measuring the depth of MEMS device structures during deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) processing in The UCB Microlab’s STS. The DRIE process is used to fabricate high-aspect-ratio silicon structures via a special switched-gas (Bosch process) plasma etch scheme. DRIE is promising technology in that it is capable of delivering MEMS devices at a relatively low cost. However, a major difficulty with this type of processing is the control of etch depth. Our research shows that it is possible to monitor the etch depth of a variety of MEMS features via a specialized FTIR (Fourier Transform Infra Red) system during the DRIE process.

Project end date: 08/18/04