Lorem™ R Series - Our Products

Lorem™ R Series

8" Reactive Ion Beam Etching System

Reactive Ion Beam Etch (RIBE)

System Features

The Lorem™ R series, intended for 8" to 4" wafers, comes in default standard size ion source, and delivers non-uniformity (1 σ) of less than 3%
The stage tilt angle to the beam is between -90° and +80°, altering the direction of impact of ion beams
On-axis rotation of the wafer stage enhances process axisymmetry
Ion beam energy and ion flux can be independently controlled
High vacuum processes
Fast etch rate and high etch selectivity due to reactive process gases
The Lorem™ R series comes in single-chamber and cluster configurations

Product Series

Terbank™ Lorem™ R

Heverlee™ Lorem™ R

Haasrode™ Lorem™ R

Hardware

	Terbank™ Lorem™ R	Heverlee™ Lorem™ R	Haasrode™ Lorem™ R
Loading Options	Cassette		Load lock
Wafer Size	200 mm	200 mm ~ 100 mm
Process Gases	Inert gases, fluorine-based gases
Critical Dimensions	≥ 100 nm
Ion Source	Standard size
Applicable Scenarios	Fabs with high uniformity applications		Small scale production R&D
Etching Materials	Silicon Dielectrics (Quartz, SiO₂, SiN_X, etc.) Materials with non-volatile byproducts (Pt, Au, Ag, Ir, NiFe, etc.) Ferroelectric materials (PZT, SBT, etc.) III-V and II-VI compound semiconductors (GaAs, GaN, InP, CdZnTe, etc.) Other materials: sapphire, diamond, indium tin oxides, aluminum nitride, metal compounds, etc.
Applications	Surface relief gratings, magneto-resistive random access memories (MRAMs), magnetic head processing, MEMS, micro-LED

Process Data

Slanted Grating Etch with RIBE Process

Overview

Compared to the purely physical processes of the Lorem™ ion beam etching (IBE) series, our Lorem™ R chambers introduce highly reactive gases such as fluorine-based chemicals into the ion beam source for reactive etching. Together with the inert gases typical of IBE processes, these reactive gases enter the discharge chamber of the ion source and become ionized into a uniform plasma. The plasma is accelerated by the grids of the ion source, and subsequently neutralized by the neutralizer. The ion beam hits the substrate surface with a desired set of energy and ion flux, etching the sample through chemical reactions as well as physical bombardment.

RIBE processes enjoy higher etch rate, and better etch selectivity. The wafer holder can be tilted, altering the direction of impact to control the sidewall slope. Since the beam energy and ion flux can be adjusted separately, the RIBE process can create features with flat trench bottoms.

The most significant application of the Lorem™ R series is on samples with special features, such as slanted or blazed gratings made of silicon, silicon dioxide, or quartz. If the reactive gas lines are switched off, the Lorem™ R series can perform purely physical IBE processes as well. For special processes with both IBE and RIBE steps, this added versatility is a bonus.