APPARATUS FOR ETCHING OF THIN LAYERS OF MATERIAL BY ION BOMBARDMENT

摘要

A method of etching thin layers of material by bombarding a target with accelerated ions in the presence of a magnetic field parallel to the path of the accelerated ions and including apparatus to carry out the method. A voltage is applied to glow discharge electrodes in a vacuum environment causing plasma formation between the electrodes and accelerating the resultant ions toward a target to be etched. A magnetic field parallel to the accelerating electric field is provided to condense the ionic stream and cause more ions to strike the target. Some form of masking is utilized to define the desired pattern of holes in the surface layer of the target.