Plasma process equipment maker Plasma-Therm LLC of St Petersburg, FL, USA has been selected by the UK’s University of Southampton to provide deep silicon etching capability for the Southampton Nanofabrication Centre (SNC), which is located in the Zepler Institute’s new cleanroom facility. The institute also houses the Optoelectronics Research Centre.
SNC’s new Plasma-Therm VERSALINE DSE etching system will be used for silicon based applications that include MEMS and BioMEMS sensors, MOEMs, solar cells, and optical component devices.
“The VERSALINE’s array of capabilities was an important part of the decision criteria,” said Iain Anteney, SNC cleanroom manager. “In addition to having broad process latitude to successfully etch many structures using an operating system that offered superior control, we were interested in process stability. The uniquely heated source and substrate temperature management strongly influenced our assessment.”
