Temperature effects in plasma etching of polymers have been reinvestigated. A stepwise increase in the etch rate is observed when the substrate temperature exceeds the glass transition temperature Tg of the polymer. This phenomenon is correlated with changes in the physical properties of the polymer such as heat capacity. Furthermore, whereas temperature is usually assumed to enhance the etching process, the ion-induced etching component, below Tg, is shown to increase when the polymer temperature is decreased. This behavior can be explained by a simple model involving changes in the adsorption rate of reactive species with temperature.
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Pons et al. (1991) studied this question.