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Ion
Beam Milling - (IBM)
In simple terms ion beam
milling can be viewed as an atomic sand
blaster. The grains of sand are actually
submicron ion particles accelerated to bombard
the surface of the work mounted on a rotating
table inside a vacuum chamber. The work
is typically a wafer, substrate or element
that requires material removal by atomic
sandblasting or dry etching.
A selectively applied protectant,
photo sensitive resist, is applied to the
work element prior to introduction into
the ion miller. The resist protects the
underlying material during the etching process
which may be up to eight hours or longer,
depending upon the amount to be removed
and the etch rate of the materials. Everything
that is exposed to the collimated ion beam
(may be 15" in diameter in some equipment)
etches during the process cycle, even the
resist.
In most micromachining applications
the desired material to be removed etches
at a rate 3 to 10 times faster than the
resist protectant thus preserving the material
and features underneath the resist.
Applications
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Ion Beam Milling is used
in fabricating electronic and mechanical
elements for a wide variety of commercial,
industrial, military and satellite applications
including custom film circuits for RF and
Microwave circuits.
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