Moving from thin films to atomic layers - Atomic layer etching

Controlled layer by layer material removal will be required for device fabrication in the future. Atomic level etch is a promising path to answer the processing demands of thin high mobility channel devices on the angstrom scale. Self-limiting reactions, discrete reaction & activation steps, or extremely low ion energy etch plasmas are some of the pathways being pursued for precise sub-nanometer material removal. Critical etch applications that require atomic layer control will be discussed, and promising approaches towards atomic layer etch will be reviewed in this talk.