The role of energetic ion bombardment in silicon-fluorine chemistry

Within the last few years there has been a considerable effort devoted to developing a more-fundamental understanding of the role of energetic ion bombardment in influencing the kinetics of reactive gas-surface interactions. Much of this work has been directed toward the silicon-fluorine system and still there are unanswered questions as to the primary role of energetic ions. In this discussion, the importance of ion-assisted gas-surface chemistry in plasma-assisted etching will be described and the current state of our microscopic understanding will be summarized. © 1987.