Microfabrication of Si and GaAs by Plasma Etching Process Using Bacterial Cells as an Etching Mask Material

We demonstrated that bacterial cells can be used as a mask material for microfabrication of GaAs and Si by a Cl-2 inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching process. The etching rate of Escherichia coli cells was similar to that of electron beam resist or nanoimprint resist. We also demonstrated the degradation of bacterial cells by low-pressure plasma treatment using O-2, Ar, air, and H2O for removal of bacterial cells as the etching mask material. Bacterial cells were efficiently degraded by ions in the low-pressure discharge plasma. The proposed process using bacterial cells can be expected to be applied to semiconductor dry etching processes. (c) 2012 The Japan Society of Applied Physics