A local high pressure micro plasma jet was proposed for micro scale local sputter etching in a vacuum
system. A small orifice gas nozzle as an anode was placed in a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
chamber to produce the local high gas pressure and supply Argon gas for DC plasma generation at a short
gap distance. The characteristics of local sputter etching by the micro plasma jet were studied. At DC
power of 1.68 mW, a silicon sputtering rate of approximately 0.01 mm/s was achieved by using an orifice
40 mm in diameter at 2.5 sccm gas flow rate and 100 mm gap distance. The sputtered area was 60 mm in
diameter.