Thermally guided chemical etching of a substrate and real-time monitoring thereof
AssigneeMomentum Optics LLC
InventorJeremy Goeckeritz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of controlling a substrate etching process includes disposing a bottom surface or a top surface of a substrate adjacent to volume of etching fluid to produce an etchant-substrate interface and heating the etchant-substrate interface via spatially controlled electromagnetic radiation. The method also includes transmitting a monitoring beam through the substrate, the substrate and volume of etching fluid being at least partially transparent at the wavelength range of the monitoring beam and measuring a property of the substrate surface during the substrate etching process via the monitoring beam to produce a real-time measured property for the substrate. A corresponding etching system and computer-program product is also disclosed herein.
Claims20
A system for controlling a substrate etching process, the system comprising:
- a volume of etching liquid;
- a substrate receiver configured to receive and hold a substrate adjacent to the volume of etching liquid to produce an etchant-substrate interface;
- an etch-assist emitter configured to provide spatially controllable electromagnetic radiation to the etchant-substrate interface and selectively heat the etchant-substrate interface, wherein the substrate is interposed between the etching liquid and the etch-assist emitter and is at least partially transparent to the spatially controllable electromagnetic radiation such that at least a portion of the spatially controllable electromagnetic radiation passes through the substrate to be at least 90% absorbed by the etching liquid within the first 3 centimeters (“cm”) of the etching liquid;
- a monitoring beam emitter configured to transmit a monitoring beam through the substrate;
- a monitoring beam detector configured to measure a property of a surface of the substrate during the substrate etching process via the monitoring beam to produce a real-time, measured property for the substrate;
- and
- a controller configured to adjust the spatially controllable electromagnetic radiation via the etch-assist emitter responsive to the measured property for the substrate to provide electromagnetic radiation that is greater in some areas of the etchant-substrate interface than other areas of the etchant-substrate interface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.