Kinetics and mechanisms of chemical reactions in nonequilibrium-plasma etching of silicon and silicon compounds

Plasma-chemical etching of silicon and silicon compounds is reviewed. It is shown that present data indicates that fluorine atoms and molecules are the main particles responsible for etching of silicon and that atomic fluorine is the main active particle for etching of silicon dioxide. Insufficient data exists to establish the contribution of charged and excited states to the etching of silicon and its compounds but oxygen atoms and molecules are seen to have a strong influence and fluorocarbon radicals can passivate the surface by forming polymer films.