Deep anisotropic dry etching of silicon microstructures by high-density plasmas

This thesis deals with the dry etching of deep anisotropic microstructures in monocrystalline silicon by high-density plasmas. High aspect ratio trenches are necessary in the fabrication of sensitive inertial devices such as accellerometers and gyroscopes. The etching of silicon in fluorine-based plasmas is isotropic. To obtain anisotropy the...