Abstract
The development of silicon processing has been characterized by the aim to miniaturize structures and to fabricate faster devices.This is clearly illustrated, for example, by the fact that the number of components per integrated circuit rose from a few thousands in the early 1960s to million in the 1990s.The bonanza in research and production of silicon-based devices has also stimulated the growth of certain fabrication approaches such as micro electromechanical systems(MEMS). Many MEMS devices involve high aspect ratio structures (HARS), so dry etching is an important technology in fabrication. Among the options for fabricating HARS in silicon, we find reactive ion etching (RIE)and electron cyclotron resonance(ECR).However, these conventional dry etching process approaches have only had a limited success in fulfilling the requirements of HARS: high etch rate, good selectivity to masking material, anisotropy, and compatibility with other processes. In particular, inductively coupled plasma (ICP)are satisfying the need of the HARS fabrication. ICP etchers can provide high concentrations of etching species at low pressures and low dc bias. In this article, we will study the theorem and technology of ICP. Finally, I used ICP technologies to make a comb drive actuator with a single mask process (SCREM) and tested it.