Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and plasma etching are important gas-phase techniques used in fabricating semiconductor devices. These processes frequently involve poorly understood multicomponent gas-phase reactions which control reproducibility and product quality. Laser spectroscopic techniques have recently been developed to investigate CVD and plasma etching. These methods offer several advantages for probing complex systems. A comparison of various probing techniques will be presented, and recent results of laser spectroscopic investigations of plasma etching and CVD of silicon and III-V compounds will be reviewed.