The Semiconductor Device Laboratory at the University of Virginia will purchase a Reactive-Ion Etching system to support continuing advances in the technology of devices for use at sub-millimeter radio wavelengths. This laboratory has fabricated Schottky diodes which have been used successfully as radio-frequency mixers at frequencies as high as 2500 Gigahertz. Devices for use at these frequencies and beyond require dimensions of less than one micron. Such dimensions are achieved only with difficulty and imperfectly by current methods of chemical "wet" etching. Further advances in increasing maximum operating frequency, reducing noise, and reducing conversion loss in sub-millimeter wave devices require alternatives to wet chemical etching. The widely acknowledged feasible and necessary alternative is Reactive-Ion (Dry) Etching.
