IEN Technical Seminar Series on Advanced Fabrication: Plasma Processing of Thin Films

Professor Dennis Hess Ph.D., School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract: Fabrication of devices and structures for integrated circuits, sensors, photonics, and MEMS/NEMS requires layers of patterned thin films. For nearly all film materials, patterns are generated by lithographic processes, followed by plasma etching. Plasmas or glow discharges are ionized gases that contain electrons, ions, neutral species and photons that promote chemical reactions and ensure that anisotropic etch profiles can be obtained. This tutorial will discuss the fundamental physics and chemistry of plasmas, plasma reactor configurations, unique properties of plasmas that allow thin film processing for a variety of applications, and approaches to control etch rates, profiles, and etch selectivity.

Biography: Dennis W. Hess is the Thomas C. DeLoach Jr., Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests include thin films, surfaces, and interfaces, especially as applied to microelectronics and polymer processing. He received a B.S. in Chemistry from Albright College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Physical Chemistry from Lehigh University. He was a Member of the Research Staff and Supervisor of Process Development at Fairchild Semiconductor from 1973 to 1977. From 1977 to 1991 he was a faculty member in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also served as Assistant Dean, College of Chemistry (1982-1987) and Vice Chair, ChE Department (1988-1991). From 1991-1996, he served as Chair of the Chemical Engineering Department at Lehigh University. He joined the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech in 1996.