H2-assisted slanted etching of high refractive index material

Abstract

Techniques for fabricating a slanted structure are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of fabricating a slanted structure in a material layer includes injecting a first reactive gas into an reactive ion source generator, generating a plasma that includes reactive ions in the reactive ion source generator, extracting at least some of the reactive ions from the plasma to form a collimated reactive ion beam towards the material layer, and injecting a second reactive gas onto the material layer. The collimated reactive ion beam and the second reactive gas etch the material layer both physically and chemically to form the slanted surface-relief structure. In some embodiments, the first reactive gas includes a low-molecular-weight gas (e.g., H2 or He). In some embodiments, a surface layer of the internal cavity of the reactive ion source generator includes a layer of an oxide material (e.g., aluminum oxide or Y2O3).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.