Characterizations of Removal Rate and Temperature in the Inductively Coupled Plasma Etching of Silicon Carbide

Abstract:

Silicon carbide (SiC) is widely used in terrestrial and space applications because of its good mechanical, thermal and optical properties. Nevertheless, traditional grinding and polishing technologies cannot meet the machining requirements due to the high hardness and brittleness. In this paper, Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) is utilized to process the SiC optics. The effects of different processing recipes on the removal rate and temperature are investigated. The results show that the removal rate almost keeps stable with processing time and changes with the flow rate of plasma gas, reaction gas, the ratio of CF₄/O₂ and the power. The input power and processing time are the two main influence factors on the processing temperature.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 679)
• Pages: 85-90
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.679.85
• Online since: February 2016
• Authors: Na Li, Peng Zhang, Qiang Xin, Jiang Jin, Bo Wang*
• Keywords: Inductively Coupled Plasma, Removal Rate, Silicon Carbide (SiC), Temperature

References

[1] Y. Verma, A.K. Chang, J.W. Berrett, K. Futtere, G.J. Gardopee, J. Kelley, T. Kyler, J. Lee, N. Lyford, D. Proscia, P.R. Sommer, Rapid damage-free shaping of silicon carbide using reactive atom plasma (RAP) processing, Proc. SPIE Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. 6273 (2006).

DOI: 10.1117/12.671969

[2] Y. Sano, K. Aida, H. Nishikawa, K. Yamamura, S. Matsuyama, K. Yamauchi, Plasma chemical vaporization machining of silicon carbide wafer using flat-bar electrode with multiple gas nozzles, Adv. Mater. Res. 497 (2012) 160-164.

DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.497.160

[3] Y. Sano, M. Watanabe, T. Kato, K. Yamamura, H. Mimura, K. Yamauchi, Temperature dependence of plasma chemical vaporization machining of silicon and silicon carbide, Mater. Sci. Forum 600-603 (2009) 847-850.

DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.600-603.847

[4] Y. Sano, T. Kato, T. Hori, K. Yamamura, H. Mimura, Y. Katsuyama, K. Yamauchi, Thinning of SiC wafer by plasma chemical vaporization machining, Mater. Sci. Forum 645-648 (2010) 857-860.

DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/msf.645-648.857

[5] K. Yamamura, T. Takiguchi, M. Ueda, A.N. Hattori, N. Zettsu, High-integrity finishing of 4H-SiC(0001) by plasma-assisted polishing, Adv. Mater. Res. 126-128 (2010) 423-428.

DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.126-128.423

[6] K. Yamamura, T. Takiguchi, M. Ueda, H. Deng, A.N. Hattori, N. Zettsu, Plasma assisted polishing of single crystal SiC for obtaining atomically flat strain-free surface, CIRP Ann-Manuf. Technol. 60 (2011) 571-574.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cirp.2011.03.072

[7] H. Deng, K. Yamamura, Smoothing of reaction sintered silicon carbide using plasma assisted polishing, Curr. Appl. Phys. 12 (2012) S24-S28.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cap.2012.04.004

[8] T. Arnold, G. Boehm, I.M. Eichentopf, M. Janietz, J. Meister, A. Schindler, Plasma jet machining, Vak. Forsch. Prax. 22 (2010) 10-16.

DOI: 10.1002/vipr.201000423

[9] T. Arnold, G. Bohm, Application of atmospheric plasma jet machining (PJM) for effective surface figuring of SiC, Precis. Eng. 36 (2012) 546-553.

DOI: 10.1016/j.precisioneng.2012.04.001

[10] P. Subrahmanyan, G. Gardopee, Y. Verma, N. Li, T. Yu, T. Kyler, P. Fiske, P. Sommer, Rapid fabrication of lightweight SiC aspheres using reactive atom plasma (RAPTM) processing, Proc. SPIE Int. Soc. Opt. Eng. 6666 (2007) 66660A.

DOI: 10.1117/12.733123

[11] J.F. Zhang, B. Li, B. Wang, S. Dong, Analysis on formation mechanism of ultra-smooth surface in atmospheric pressure plasma polishing, Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol. 65 (2013) 1239-1245.

DOI: 10.1007/s00170-012-4253-6

[12] M. Castelli, R. Jourdain, G. McMeeking, P. Morantz, P. Shore, D. Proscia, P. Subrahmanyan, Initial strategies for 3D RAP processing of optical surfaces based on a temperature adaptation approach, Proc. 36th Int. MATADOR Conf. (2010) 569-572.

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-84996-432-6_124