Definition
In dry etching, substrate material is removed by impinging radicals in plasma or by etchant gases. The reaction that takes place can be done utilizing high kinetic energy of particle beams, chemical reaction, or a combination of both.
Physical Dry Etching
Physical dry etching requires high energy kinetic energy (ion, electron, or photon) beams to etch off the substrate atoms. When the high-energy particles knock out the atoms from the substrate surface, the material evaporates after leaving the substrate. There is no chemical reaction taking place and therefore only the material that is unmasked will be removed. The physical reaction taking place is illustrated in Fig 1.
The plasma hits the silicon wafer with high energy to knock off the Si atoms on the surface. (a) The plasma atoms hitting the surface. (b) The silicon atoms being evaporated off from the surface
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References
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Inayat, S.B., Nayak, A.P., Logeeswaran, V.J., Islam, M.S. (2015). Dry Etching Processes. In: Bhushan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6178-0_353-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6178-0_353-2
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