Explanation
Dry etching is used in conjunction with photolithographic techniques to attack certain areas of a semiconductor surface in order to form recesses in material, such as contact holes (which are contacts to the underlying semiconductor substrate) or via holes (which are holes that are formed to provide an interconnect path between conductive layers in the layered semiconductor device) or to otherwise remove portions of semiconductor layers where predominantly vertical sides are desired. In conjunction with semiconductor manufacturing, micromachining and display production the removal of organic residues by oxygen plasmas is sometimes correctly described as a dry etch process. However, also the term plasma ashing may be used.
Dry etching is particularly useful for materials and semiconductors which are chemically resistant and could not be wet etched, such as silicon carbide or gallium nitride.
Read more about this topic: Dry Etching
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