Centura AP DPS Dry

The Centura AP DPS Dry is a dry etch system manufactured by Applied Materials. The Centura AP DPS is a semiconductor etch tool. The Centura AP DPS is configured for 12 inch wafers.^[1][2]

Dry etch systems of this kind generate a reactive plasma inside a vacuum chamber and direct it at the wafer surface. The plasma removes material from exposed films through a combination of chemical reaction and physical ion bombardment. The Centura AP DPS uses a cluster architecture in which wafers are moved under vacuum between load locks and process chambers.

The plasma source is inductively coupled, producing a high density of reactive species. A separate radio-frequency bias on the wafer stage controls the energy of ions arriving at the wafer. Decoupled control of plasma density and ion energy allows etch profiles to be tuned between isotropic and anisotropic behavior.

Centura DPS etch systems are used in semiconductor manufacturing after resist patterning has been formed by lithography. The etcher transfers the resist pattern into an underlying film by selectively removing exposed material. Downstream steps strip the remaining photoresist and clean etch residues from the wafer before further processing.

The Centura AP DPS Dry performs plasma etching of thin films used in integrated-circuit fabrication. The process chemistry can be selected to etch silicon-based films, dielectrics, and metals.

Pattern transfer with plasma etching supports the definition of features with controlled sidewall angle and depth. Decoupled plasma-source etching is applied to processes that need high etch rates while controlling damage to underlying films.