ABSTRACT

Thin metal films (up to 50–100 nm thick) are widely used as masks in vacuum plasma etching of nano- and microelectronic components—for example, in fabricating trenches [34] and DOE microreliefs [1, 2]. Stringent requirements for trenches [34] and DOE microreliefs [1, 2] pose the problem of enhancing mask adhesion: even an insignificant decrease in adhesion leads to a significant undercut of the substrate material along the metal–substrate interface, thereby irreversibly distorting the shape of the structure.