Equipment Type:

Cleanroom Instrumentation

Nano and Micro Fabrication

Plasma Etching and Material Growth

Instrument Capabilities

The Samco RIE-1C is a semi-automatic, capacitively coupled reactive ion etching (RIE) system designed for controlled anisotropic dry etching of dielectric, passivation, semiconductor, and polymer materials. The system is particularly useful for micro- and nanofabrication processes where directional etching and controlled pattern transfer are required. Etchable materials include: Silicon dioxide (SiO₂), Silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) , Silicon oxynitride (SiON), Silicon, Polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si), Polyimide, Photoresist, other polymeric films.

Key capabilities and features:

• Reaction chamber: Quartz, 212 mm dia. Allowing for processing of substrates up to 6 inches in diameter
• Distance between electrodes is fixed at 44 mm
• Upper electrode (140 mm dia.), lower electrode (180 mm dia.), support samples up to 6inch in dia
• The system is pump using a dry pump
• Anisotropic plasma etching for micro- and nanofabrication
• Parallel-plate, capacitively coupled RIE configuration
• 13.56 MHz RF excitation with up to 200 W power
• Water-cooled substrate electrode for temperature control
• Process gases: CF₄, O₂, Ar, and SF₆, providing flexibility for oxide, silicon, polymer, and photoresist etching
• Semi-automatic operation for reproducible processing

Representative Etch Rates:

• Photoresist: 300nm/min (60W, 150mTorr, 30 sccm O2)

Fees and Policies

Cleanroom Entry fee: (The cleanroom entry fee is charged in addition to the cleanroom facility usage fee)

• UT Users: $6
• Higher Education/State Agencies: $10
• Corporate/External Users: $10

Cleanroom Facility

• UT Users: $35/hour
• Higher Education/State Agencies (Assisted): $92/hour
• Corporate/External Users (Assisted): $94/hour
• Higher Education/State Agencies (Unassisted): $64/hour
• Corporate/External Users (Unassisted): $65/hour

Please contact Dr. Raluca Gearba and/or James Smitherman to schedule a training session.