Low temperature reactive ion etching of silicon with SF/sub 6//O/sub 2/ plasmas
An investigation of low temperature reactive ion etching of silicon to produce ultra small structures is presented. Plasmas containing SF/sub 6//O/sub 2/ were used to etch silicon samples in the temperature range +25/spl deg/C to -140/spl deg/C. At low flow rates and temperatures the etching produces nearly anisotropic etching in agreement with predictions of the reactive spot model. At higher flow rates etching produced facetted features indicating higher chemical reactivity of the plasma with the silicon.