Fine-tuning the etch depth profile via dynamic shielding of ion beam

We introduce a method for finely adjusting the etch depth profile by dynamic shielding in the course of ion beam etching (IBE), which is crucial for the ultra-precision fabrication of large optics. We study the physical process of dynamic shielding and propose a parametric modeling method to quantitatively analyze the shielding effect on etch depths, or rather the shielding rate, where a piecewise Gaussian model is adopted to fit the shielding rate profile. Two experiments were conducted. The experimental result of parametric modeling of shielding rate profiles shows that the shielding rate profile is significantly influenced by the rotary angle of the leaf. The result of the experiment on fine-tuning the etch depth profile shows good agreement with the simulated result, which preliminarily verifies the feasibility of our method. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.