Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

The Microfabrication laboratory is willing to offer the possibility of dry etching a broad range of materials serving most needs of our large users community. It includes dry etching of metals (Al, Cr, Ti, Ni), semiconductors (GaAs, Ge) and exotic materials (ITO, LiNbO3). Although wet etching of some of these materials is possible, the quality of wet etching cannot match dry etching in many aspects such as verticality, uniformity, critical dimensions and reproducibility. Dry etching of some of the above mentioned materials requires chlorine-based chemistry (Cl2, BCl3). The use of such toxic gases requires special design to protect the user and the environment. The presence of a loadlock is a major requirement to confine gases and the reaction products in the reaction chamber. Also a turbomolecular pump is essential to reach high vacuum levels after etching in order to insure the proper evacuation of dangerous species. The mechanical and software protection feature prevent any exposure of the user to any hazardous materials. The automatic control of equipment components and blocks guarantees a good reproducibility of etching results.The reactive ion etching system serves the research community not only in École Polytechnique and University of Montreal but also many users from other Québec and Canadian universities (such as McGill, Concordia, INRS, UQAM, Toronto, Windsor and Western Ontario). Furthermore, it is used for external projects from CMC Microsystems and industry. During 2012-2013, 171 on campus academic users, 62 external academic users, and 49 non-academic users accessed our facility.The requested RIE will be available through the Microfabrication laboratory (LMF), which is part of the ""Groupe des Couches Minces"" (GCM), itself part of the ""Regroupement Québecois sur les Matériaux de Pointe"" (RQMP). Therefore, the reactive ion etching system will be highly accessible for both academic and non-academic users of the LMF on a fee paying basis.