Dry etching refers to the removal of material, typically a masked pattern of semiconductor material, by exposing the material to a bombardment of ions that dislodge portions of the material from the exposed surface. Unlike with many of the wet chemical etchants used in wet etching, the dry etching process typically etches directionally or anisotropically.
iX-factory has the newest equipment and knowledge for normal RIE etching of dielectrics like silicon oxide and silicon nitride, but they also have the newest equipment for DRIE of silicon as well as DRIE of glass. With this techniques iX-factory is able to make your specialized microfluidic or MEMS product.

DRIE of silicon

DRIE of silicon (Deep Reactive Ion Etching) is one of the key technology of iX-factory. With this unique technique iX-factory is able to create deep, high density and high aspect ratio structures in silicon substrates.

Applications

• Microfluidic channels and ports
• MEMS (accelerometers, micromotors etc.)
• MOEMS (optical switches, mirrors etc.)
• Electrical through wafer interconnects

Capabilities:

• Depth up to 800 um.
• Through-wafer etching.
• Multiple depths.
• Stopping on Silicon-oxide or -nitride membranes
• Sidewall inclination (profile) control.
• Aspect ratio 1:50.
• Aligned front and back side etching.

Examples: (foto’s)

      
SEM picture of DRIE etched structures

DRIE of glass

DRIE of glass (Deep Reactive Ion Etching) is also a key technologies of iX-factory. With this unique technique iX-factory is able to create deep, high density and high aspect ratio structures in glass substrates.

Applications:

• Microfluidic channels
• Special waveguides
• Special MEMS

Capabilities:

• Depth up to 60 um.
• Multiple depths.
• Positive taper.
• Very smooth bottom.
• High dimension control of channel or waveguides.
• Aligned front and back side etching.

Examples:

      
SEM picture of DRIE etched structures