Incorporation of plasma physics and plasma etching into the undergraduate microelectronics laboratory

Experiments encompassing basic plasma physics and etching have been incorporated into the undergraduate microelectronics laboratory at the University of New Mexico. This laboratory is part of a senior level lecture course designed to introduce electrical engineering students to the fundamentals of IC fabrication. A new sequence seeking understanding of the fundamental nature of plasmas used for materials processing is described, together with experiments designed to investigate the effects of plasma reactor parameters on the resulting etch