Suface procesing method by blowing submicron particles

Abstract

A surface processing method by blowing submicron particles is disclosed, in which submicron particles are blown against a surface of a work to deposit a layer of the material of the particles on a surface of the work, or etching the surface of the work. The processing method uses blowing air stream containing submicron particles having average particles size ranging between 0.01 and 3.0 mum. The deposition or etching is effected depending on an incident angle of the particles to the surface of work. According to the method deposition of the material can be effected with very high deposition rate and in case of etching very smooth etched surface is obtained.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a surface processing method for etching the surface of a work, such as a glass substrate or a semiconductor substrate, or for depositing a film of a material over the surface of a work and, more specifically, to a novel surface processing method employing submicron particles.[0002] The fabrication of a functional element, such as a semiconductor integrated circuit chip, a printed circuit board or a magnetic head, requires various minute processing techniques such as advanced etching techniques or thin film forming techniques.[0003] Under such circumstances, researches have been conducted in various fields and there have been developed advanced processing techniques employing a resist mask for etching the surface of a semiconductor wafer, such as an ion beam etching method (IBE) using electrically accelerated argon ions for physically etching the surface of a work and a reactive ion etching method (RIE) using activated fluorine or chlorine gas ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

0070] Also connected to the cover 12 is an exhaust pipe 43 connected together with the pipe 26 to the exhauster 4. An annular partition wall 44 extends downward from the inner surface of the cover 12. The partition wall 44 separates the submicron particles delivered through the return pipes 40 and 41 from air on the principle of a cyclone separator and classifies the submicron particles roughly, so that the submicron particles fall in the hopper 11. On the other hand the air separated from the submicron particles flows through the exhaust pipe 43 into the exhauster 4 and is discharged from the exhauster 4. A solenoid valve 45 is provided on the exhaust pipe 43 to control the flow of air.

0071] In operation, the air compressor 1 discharges compressed air into the first air supply pipe 6 and the second air supply pipe 7. The compressed air discharged into the first supply pipe 6 flows through the filter disk 16 and the air jets 22 into the mixing tank 2 to stir the submicron particles 15 and, consequently, some of

Problems solved by technology

The processing rates of those etching methods are relatively low, need an expensive apparatus and requires troublesome work for the maintenance of the apparatus.

This sandblasting method is capable of processing the surface of a work at a relatively high processing rate and is advantageous in plant and equipment investment, however, the sandblasting method is unsatisfactory when applied to processing the surface of a semiconductor wafer in patterning accuracy and the surface condition of the processed surface because the particle size of the particles employed in the sandblasting method at the minimum is on the order of 16 .mu.m.

Those previously proposed various etching methods are unsatisfactory in either processing rate or processing a

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