Dry Etch

Process Control Data

See the linked Process Control Data page for process control data (etch rate, selectivity, etc. over time) for a selection of commonly used dry etches.

Dry Etching Tools/Materials Table

Process Maturity Ranking

• R6 - most mature process with regular calibrations recorded on SPC charts.
• ...
• R1 - least mature — process has been run at least once.
• A - process Allowed and materials available but never done.

The Key/Legend for this table's A...R6 values is at the bottom of the page.

Dry Etching Recipes
Material	RIE Etching	ICP Etching	Other Dry Etchers		UV Etch
	Oxford RIE	Oxford ICP	XeF2 Etch	Vapour HF Etch	UV
Al	R2	R1
Au			R3
Cr	R2	R1
Cu			R1
Ge		R1	R2
Ni			R3
Pt			R3
Si		R6	R3
Ti		R1
W		R1
Al2O3		R3
AlGaAs	R3	R3
AlGaN		R2
GaAs	R3	R6
GaN	R3	R6
InP	R3	R6		R3
ITO	R3
Photoresist & Organics	R3				R3
SiC		R1
SiN		R3
SiO2		R6		R3
SiOxNy		R1
TiO2			R1
ZnO			R1
ZrO2		R1
Material	Oxford RIE	Oxford ICP	XeF2 Etch	Vapour HF Etch	UV

Process Ranking Table

Processes in the table above are ranked by their Process Maturity Level as follows:

Process Level	Description
A	Process Allowed and materials available but never done
R1	Process has been run at least once
R2	Process has been run and procedure is documented
R3	Process has been run, procedure is documented, and data is available
R4	Documented procedure with regular (≥4x per year) data — no in-situ control available
R5	Documented procedure with regular (≥4x per year) data — and in-situ control available
R6	Documented procedure with control charts/limits available — fully controlled process