13. The Level Set Method

When simulating etching and deposition processes for semiconductor manufacturing, an accurate description of moving boundaries is crucial in addition to proper treatment of the chemical and physical processes. Hence in this chapter a variant of the level set method used for tracking the evolution of surfaces in time for the purpose of deposition and etching simulations is described. After a comparison with other methods the basics of the level set method are recapitulated and the algorithm and its improvements used in a general simulator for deposition and etching processes are presented.