9600

The Lam Research 9600 is an etch system for semiconductor wafer processing. Etch systems remove selected material from wafer surfaces after patterned masking steps so that device features can be transferred into underlying films. Etch tools are used in integrated circuit manufacturing at stages where controlled material removal is needed with directionality, selectivity, and chamber-based process control.

Plasma etch systems operate by placing a wafer in a vacuum chamber, introducing process gases, and applying radio-frequency power to create a reactive plasma. Plasma species and ion bombardment then remove exposed material from the wafer in a controlled pattern defined by the masking layer. Load locks are commonly used to transfer wafers into and out of the process chamber while limiting disturbance of the main chamber environment.

Etch tools sit after film formation and pattern definition steps in wafer fabrication. Etch steps commonly follow lithographic patterning and are used to transfer the patterned mask into conductor, dielectric, or semiconductor layers. After etching, wafers typically move to strip, clean, inspection, metrology, or the next deposition and patterning sequence depending on the device layer being built.

Etch systems are used for patterned removal of thin films and structural layers during device fabrication. Depending on chamber hardware and recipe chemistry, tools in this class can support pattern transfer for front end and back end structures such as contacts, vias, interconnect features, isolation features, and other masked layers across semiconductor process flows.