Bill Moffat wrote:

>Richard,
>        Argon is inert, Argon plasma is electrically active but still
>inert.  It can sputter but the amount removed is small.  Think maybe an
>Angstrom a minute in a low energy hybrid plasma descummer, maybe 10
>Angstroms a minute in a high intensity single wafer resist stripper.
>With an over $1M Applied Materials 5000 R.I.E. think maybe 100 Angstroms
>per minute. All of which is cost and time prohibitive.  Think metal lift
>off for definition better than 0.08 micron thicknesses up to 20 to 30
>Microns of copper.  10 Microns of Tantalum for flip chip bumps or well
>over 5 microns of Gold.  Contact me for more details.
>
Hi,

I am wondering. If you want to attain metal structures down to 0.08
microns, you probably always need a lift-off layer. Am I right? They
seem to be quite expensive (Shipley: +- 700 euros). Are there cheaper
alternatives?