Transfer of micron pattern with reactive atmospheric plasma jets into fused silica

Pattern transfer by plasma etching is a traditional standard technology in microelectronics and other micron technologies. These technologies require vacuum conditions, which limit throughput, size, and low-cost fabrication. Recent developments in low cost atmospheric plasma technologies may be suitable to realize pattern transfer without vacuum conditions. Reactive atmospheric plasma jet etching has been used to transfer aluminum mask patterns to fused silica. Aluminum line patterns of 2.5 to 50 µm width on fused silica wafer are exposed to a static as well as a scanning CF₄/O₂ reactive atmospheric plasma jet with a footprint diameter of 0.85 mm (full width at half maximum), resulting in etching only the SiO₂ and causing a nearly isotropic etch with an etch rate of about 200 nm/s. As a result, line narrowing, trapezoidal line cross-sections, and under-etching were observed. The successfully transferred line patterns with the demonstrated widths and depths are of technological interest in various fields of application. Therefore, this approach enables low-cost patterning of fused silica through the use of reactive atmospheric plasma jet etching for micron-scale pattern transfer. This advancement addresses the limitations of both traditional vacuum-based and wet etching methods.