Laser etching and dry processing

Controlled, anisotropic etching of different materials commonly used in microelectronics is an important processing step in microfabrications. During recent years it has been demonstrated that lasers can be used for initiating and enhancing the etching process in many gas-solid (dry processing) and liquid-solid (wet processing) systems. The laser-induced reaction could be either photochemical or thermochemical. Using laser etching technique a variety of materials such as Al, Ta, Ni/Fe, GaAs, InP, Si, SiO₂ mylar, different polymers and superconducting materials have been processed. In this paper we briefly review these laser etching experiments.