What is ECR Ion Beam System?
ECR (Electron Cyclotron Resonance) is one of the plasma generation methods. ECR Ion Beam Systems are instruments that use broad ion beams extracted from ECR plasma to perform Ion Beam Etching (IBE) as follows.
(1) fabricate a mask on a substrate
(2) etch the substrate surface with ion beam bombardment
(3) stop the ion beam bombardment when the desired etch depth is achieved
(4) remove the mask
Fig. 1. Etch process
ECR Ion Beam Systems operate with both inert gases (typically Argon) and reactive gases (e.g. Oxygen), so both physical etching and Reactive Ion Beam Etching (Fig. 2) are available.
ECR Ion Beam Systems also enable Ion Beam Deposition (IBD).
The plasma chamber is separate from the etching chamber to mitigate the damage to the sample from plasma (Fig. 3).
Fig. 2. Reactive Ion Beam Etching (RIBE)
Fig. 3. Chamber of ECR Ion Beam System
ECR Ion Beam System are widely used in various industries such as optical devices(AR/VR), sensor devices, power electronics, and sample surface modification.