The objective of the Research Initiation Award is to investigate the use of variably pulsed microwave plasma sources for the anisotropic etching of silicon. We plan to show that the modulation of pulse length and duty cycle can effect etching characteristics such as etch selectivity between Si and Si02 and vertical and lateral etch rates. We plan to show that a pulsed discharge can maintain an etch rate similar to that of a continuous discharge with the resulting benefit of a reduced average power consumption. the proposed research is intended to improve the etching characteristics of microwave plasma sources and improve the understanding of the surface chemistry that takes place within these devices.
