The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 13, 2016
Filed:
Dec. 17, 2012
Applicant:
Fei Company, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Inventor:
Chad Rue, Portland, OR (US);
Assignee:
FEI COMPANY, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
C23C 14/14 (2006.01); H01J 37/305 (2006.01); C23C 14/46 (2006.01); C23F 1/00 (2006.01); C23F 1/02 (2006.01); C23C 14/02 (2006.01); H01L 21/311 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01J 37/3053 (2013.01); C23C 14/022 (2013.01); C23C 14/46 (2013.01); C23F 1/00 (2013.01); C23F 1/02 (2013.01); H01L 21/31138 (2013.01); H01J 2237/3174 (2013.01);
Abstract
A carbonaceous material is removed using a low energy focused ion beam in the presence of an etch-assisting gas. Applicant has discovered that when the beam energy of the FIB is lowered, an etch-assisting gas, such as O, greatly increases the etch rate. In one example, polyimide material etched using a Xeplasma FIB with a beam energy from 8 keV to 14 keV and Oas an etch-assisting gas, the increase in etch rate can approach 30× as compared to the default mill rate.