Appeal No. 1998-1211
Application No. 08/448,955
depositing a layer of a predetermined material on a
surface in the presence of a plasma,
periodically interrupting said plasma in the presence of
at least one ambient material other than said predetermined
material to form a periodic sequence of homogeneous markers
within the bulk of said predetermined material,
etching said predetermined material by reactive ion
etching while monitoring optical emissions from a second
plasma produced during said reactive ion etching,
terminating said etching process based on changes in said
optical emissions of said second plasma corresponding to said
homogeneous markers, and
allowing at least one homogeneous marker of said
homogeneous markers to remain within said predetermined
material.
7. A method of determining an end point of a reactive ion
etching process including the steps of
forming a periodic sequence of homogeneous markers within
the bulk of a layer of a predetermined material during
deposition of said predetermined material,
performing reactive ion etching of said predetermined
material for producing a plasma,
terminating said reactive ion etching based on changes of
optical emissions from said plasma corresponding to said
homogeneous markers during said reactive ion etching, and
allowing at least one homogeneous marker of said
homogeneous markers to remain within said predetermined
material.
The examiner relies upon the following references as
evidence of obviousness:
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