The in situ cleaning of a substrate surface by low-energy ion bombardment is discussed concentrating on the effect on the quality of sputter-deposited metal thin films. The removal of carbon from the wafer surface with the addition of H2 to Ar plasma atmosphere during the in situ cleaning was confirmed by secondary ion mass spectrometry evaluation. High crystallinity Ti films were obtained by deposition using Ar/H2 in situ cleaning by low-energy ion bombardment. By the introduction of the Ar/H2 plasma in situ substrate surface cleaning, Ti film growth by sputtering was confirmed to improve its crystallinity and its surface smoothness.

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Using a newly developed ultraclean electron cyclotron resonance plasma etcher, Si wafers masked by SiO2 were etched with a chlorine plasma at pressures of 0.6–4.0 mTorr with a microwave power of 300–700 W. Ultraclean processing under a low ion energy condition at high pressures has revealed that there is an induction period during which time there is no SiO2 etching. This is not observed with Si. During the induction period, perfectly selective etching for Si to SiO2 has been achieved. Under this perfectly selective condition, anisotropic tenth micron patterns of polycrystalline silicon have been obtained with little undercut.

A highly sensitive probe based on the skin effect was developed to measure thin film permeability. A new **Toei Scientific Industrial Company Ltd., 1-101-60 Medeshimadai, Natori 981-1251, Japan ***Candox Systems Inc., 15-21 Oshiage-Cho, Gyoda 361-0045, Japan ****Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-05 Aramaki Aza Aoba, Aoba -ku, Sendai 980-8579, Japan A highly sensitive probe based on the skin effect was developed to measure thin film permeability. A new microstrip-line-type probe on a flexible substrate was fabricated and placed in contact with a magnetic thin film. The probe enhanced the signal-to-noise ratio and broadband measurement. The permeability of amorphous CoNbZr film

By Ar plasma-enhanced decomposition of SiH4 using ultraclean electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma processing, low-temperature Si epitaxy has been achieved even without external substrate heating for the first time. Ar plasma pre-exposure experiments have revealed that Ar ion energies lower than a few eV are favorable for Si epitaxy at low temperatures, in order to suppress plasma damage on the surface crystallinity. Furthermore, it has been found that addition of H2 to the Ar plasma is extremely effective to remove the native oxide layer on the Si surface.