RIE—See Reactive ion etching

There are several ways (see Fig. 5) in which polyimides have been used in applications where photoimaging is required to produce a pattern on a substrate (typically silicon, or other materials including polyimide itself) (205). The first method is reactive ion etching (RIE) (includes plasma etching) or photoablation. This method does not require a photosensitive material, only a mask that can withstand the reactive ion gas or photons, and the material to be patterned, which is protected by the mask. In RIE, the reactive ions, generated by an RF field, attack the exposed polyimide to etch out the pattern of the mask. This process can be used with conventional polyimide film and requires few steps, but is not highly accurate and requires a hard (metal, silicon, etc) mask. The other methods... 

Reactive plasma etching (RPE) (cleaning) The chemical etching of a surface in contact with a plasma of the reactive gas. See also Reactive ion etching (RIE). 

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