Giga-era dielectric etch: challenges and solutions

Moore's law has generally guided the semiconductor micro-fabrication for the last three decades. Along this trend, a giga era is approaching: gigabit memory devices and giga Hertz microprocessors will be developed around the millennium. The author first discusses both technological and economical challenges to dielectric etch of the gigaera, from a semiconductor equipment vendor's point of view, then presents some of recently developed solutions.