Plasma etching description

Microfabrication involves multiple photolithographic and etch steps, a silicon fusion bond and an anodic bond (see especially [12] for a detailed description, but also [11]). A time-multiplexed inductively coupled plasma etch process was used for making the micro channels. The microstructured plate is covered with a Pyrex wafer by anodic bonding. 

GL 16] [R 12] [P 15] By a plasma etch process (see description in ]R 12]), a highly porous surface stmcture can be realized which can be catalyst coated [12]. The resulting surface area of 100 m is not far from the porosity provided by the catalyst particles employed otherwise as a fixed bed. In one study, a reactor with such a waU-porous catalyst was compared with another reactor having the catalyst particles as a fixed bed. The number of channels for both reactors was not equal, which has to be considered in the following comparison. 

A brief description of the key plasma diagnostic techniques, which have been especially useful in delineating the gas phase processes in fluorocarbon plasmas, will be given followed by an extensive discussion of plasma etching and polymerization mechanisms. 

Later, some other models were proposed based on ion [24 or dectron [25] bombardment. Poll et al. [26] also discussed the role of ion bombardment and pointed to a competition between etching and deposition proces%s in plasma polymerization. A more general description was given by Yasuda [3] (Fig. 8). 

The same description holds true for plasma with a few exceptions. The rate at which electron bombardment occurs is > 100 times that for corona. This increased cross-linking activity forces a greater ion bombardment onto the substrate surface, which in turn results in increased micro-etchings on the substrate s surface, and stronger bonding attributes across the substrate. 

---