Designed for removal of passivation layer from an electronic device, and when the lines are below a certain point in width, such that undercutting with isotropic etching undercuts the lines completely
The SPI PlasmaPrep X parallel plate plasma etcher was designed for one application: the anisotropic removal of glass passivation layers for failure analysis in the solid state electronics industry.
It is designed for use with primarily one gas, namely CF4 or (or some other reactive fluorine gas) perhaps diluted with oxygen or argon.
There can of course be other applications for anisotropic etching, but the Plasma Prep X is indicated whenever one can not tolerate any 'undercutting' during the etching process.
The PlasmaPrep X is designed for the removal of a passivation layer from an electronic device, and for when the lines are below a certain point in width, such that undercutting with isotropic etching undercuts the lines completely, causing the layers to literally fall off.
The anisotropic etching of the PlasmaPrep X is in one direction, and undercutting is virtually eliminated.
