Time multiplexed, deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) is a standard silicon microfabrication technique for fabricating MEMS sensors, actuators, and more recently in CMOS development for 2.5D and 3D memory devices.
At CHESS, we have adopted this microfabrication technique to develop novel x-ray optics called,Collimating Channel Arrays (CCAs) [1], for confocal x-ray fluorescence microscopy (CXRF). Because the first CCA optics were fabricated from silicon substrates, the range of x-ray fluorescence energies for which they could be used, and hence the elements they could be used to study, was limited. Unwanted x-rays above about 11 keV could penetrate through the silicon, showing up as background and interfering with the measurement.
To solve the background problem, germanium substrates were used to fabricate the CCA optics. Germanium, which is much denser and therefore x-ray opaque than silicon, is also etch compatible with the fluorine etch chemistry for silicon DRIE. However, small differences in etch behavior between germanium and silicon can cause big differences in the outcome. Here, Genova et al JVST B [2] report a systematic comparison of the etch mechanisms of silicon and germanium, performed with the Plasma Therm Versaline deep silicon etcher at the Cornell NanoScale Science & Technology Facility (CNF). The etch rates of silicon and germanium were compared by varying critical parameters in the DRIE process, especially the applied power and voltage used for each of 3 steps in the etch process, on custom-designed wafers with a variety of features with systematically varying dimensions.
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Image: (extract, full image here) SEM of high aspect ratio (>13:1) etched features in Si at 3.7 μm/min (a) and Ge at 3.4 μm/min (b)