Advanced etch tool for high etch rate deep reactive ion etching in silicon micromachining production environment

This paper reports on first results of a new joint project for high-rate silicon deep reactive ion etching for MEMS. The process technology underlying this prototype assessment is the so-called Bosch process [1, 2]. This process is nowadays widely used on inductively coupled plasma equipment for the deep reactive ion etching technology in silicon micromachining. The periodic change of different gases for etching (SF6) and passivation (C4F8) can lead to very high aspect ratios and very high etch rates.