φetch implements a computational framework for the topography evolution of features (e.g. trenches or holes) during plasma etching. It results from the coupling of 3 modules: A) A local flux calculation module, which calculates the local fluxes inside the etched features (e.g., trenches, holes), B) a surface chemistry module which describes the etching mechanisms on the surface, and C) a profile evolution algorithm which is based on the level set method. The inputs of this framework are the species fluxes at the bulk plasma and the output is the topography of the etched feature.
Most of the algorithms and numerical methods of φetch were developed during the PhD thesis of George Kokkoris, supported by the Institute of Microelectronics of NCSR “Demokritos”, with advisors Evangelos Gogolides and Andreas Boudouvis. The GUI was developed by Kimon Kontosis.