Development of Process for Fast Plasma-Chemical Through Etching of Single-Crystal Quartz in SF6/O2 Gas Mixture

Abstract

Process for deep plasma-chemical etching of single-crystal quartz plates in a SF₆/O₂ gas mixture was developed. The method of scientific experiment design based on the Taguchi matrix technique was used to rank basic technological parameters (bias voltage applied to the substrate holder, output power of the high-frequency generator, oxygen flow rate, and position of the substrate holder relative to the lower edge of the discharge chamber) as regards their influence on the etching rate. The ranking results were used to optimize the plasma-chemical etching process and perform a control experiment on through etching of windows with large linear dimensions (3 × 10 mm) in a single-crystal quartz plate (z-cut) with thickness of 369 μm.