Hi,

        We at Cornell have been using Plasmatherm's deep Si etcher for
almost a year now and are very happy with it.  Many in our group have
switched from Cl2-based vertical etching to use of the deep etcher for our
processes.  One member of our group, Pete Hartwell, is giving a talk at
this month's AVS conference in San Jose, CA detailing our experiences with
it.  If you want, we can send you copies of the slides.  Also, feel free
to contact us directly if you have any questions.  Our contact info is
given on the following page along with some early pictures of stuff we did
with the machine:

http://kale.ee.cornell.edu/fred/plasmatherm/Plasmatherm.html

- John

----------------
John Chong
jmc4@cornell.edu
----------------

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 09:08:24 +0800 (SST)
From: M Y Loke 
To: MEMS@ISI.EDU
Subject: Silicon deep trench etcher


Hello fellow MEMS researchers,

We would like to purchase a silicon deep trench etcher for our MEMS
research work.  We have evaluated a few suppliers namely, Alcatel,
STS and Plasma Therm (still waiting to hear from Oxford Plasma out in
the UK).

It is difficult to conclude which machine is better as there are always
trade offs between several factors (undercut, selectivity and etch rates).

Anyone out there with any comments or suggestions, especially people
who have purchased the deep trench etchers?

Thanks in advance.


Regards
Yan