Reactive ion etching of glass substrates

Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) has emerged as one of the most pivotal technologies in the microfabrication landscape, particularly within the domains of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) [ 1–5 ] and microfluidic devices [ 6 , 7 ]. As a highly controllable dry etching method that combines chemical and physical interactions in a plasma environment, RIE enables precise pattern transfer and anisotropic material removal with feature sizes spanning from the microscale to the deep nanoscale regime [ 8–10 ]. Its capacity to etch complex geometries with high fidelity and vertical sidewalls has made it indispensable in producing advanced microsystems with stringent dimensional and functional requirements.