Selective reactive ion etching of wafers

Abstract

The invention comprises a device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers comprising, a graphite base plate including an opening for housing a wafer, and a plurality of graphite strips that can be arranged over the graphite base plate to select a site of a wafer housed in the base plate for etching.

1 . A device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers comprising, 
 a base plate including an opening for housing a wafer, and    a plurality of strips that can be arranged over the graphite base plate to select a site of a wafer housed in the base plate for etching.    
   
   
       2 . A device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the strips are all the same length.  
   
   
       3 . A device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the strips can have different widths.  
   
   
       4 . A device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers as claimed in  claim 3  wherein the widths of the strips are multiples of a unit dimension.  
   
   
       5 . A device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the opening in the base plate is circular.  
   
   
       6 . A device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the site selected for reactive ion etching is opened to reactive ion etching by arranging the strips in two dimensions.  
   
   
       7 . A device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the base plate is formed from graphite.  
   
   
       8 . A device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the base plate is formed from aluminium.  
   
   
       9 . A device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the strips are formed from graphite.  
   
   
       10 . A device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the strips are formed from aluminium.  
   
   
       11 . A device for assisting in the selective reactive ion etching of wafers as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the strips overlap.  
   
   
       12 . A method of selectively reactive ion etching a portion of a wafer comprising the steps of, 
 placing the wafer in a base plate,    identifying the portion of the wafer to be etched,    arranging a plurality of strips over the wafer and base plate to cover all portions of the wafer that are not to be etched and leave exposed the portion of the wafer to be etched, and    performing a reactive ion etch on the wafer.