Reactive Ion Etcher

• Subject Area: Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 554719481

Nanotechnology is a driving force for scientific and technical progress. The step from research to application requires miniaturization and integration. The microstructure laboratory of the 4th Physics Institute as a central laboratory for micro- and nano-structuring (core facility) provides well over 20 large-scale devices for structuring and characterization and is therefore of particular importance in this context. In most cases, the production of micro- and nanostructures is carriert out indirectly using resist masks, which are then transferred into the material of interest. A core technology is reactive ion etching (RIE). This involves etching into the material using a plasma through the resist mask or through a hard mask created using a resist mask; the plasma attacks the material and removes it. RIE is used in particular for high-purity materials that were produced using flat coating or growth, for example via cathode sputtering, spin coating, or epitaxial growth. RIE is a central enabling technology for numerous applications in nanophotonics, quantum and semiconductor technology and is therefore an irreplaceable element in the nanostructuring toolbox, essential to maintaining the competitiveness and leading position of university research and development. We are applying for a reactive ion etching system as a replacement, as the previous machine (built in 1993) is defective and can no longer be repaired.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Anlage zum Reaktiven Ionenätzen
• Instrumentation Group: 0930 Spezialgeräte der Halbleiterprozeßtechnik
• Applicant Institution: Universität Stuttgart
• Leader: Professor Dr. Harald Giessen