(July 27, 2006) SAN FRANCISCO &#151 XACTIX, a MEMS manufacturing equipment provider, and Surface Technology Systems, who creates plasma process technologies, have released a suite of etching tools specific to MEMS, combining STS and XACTIX products. The xenon difluoride silicon-etch systems enable unconventional processes, “such as etching after package insertion and wire-bonding,” says David Springer, president of XACTIX. They use xenon difluoride gas to selectively isotropic etch into bulk silicon or remove sacrificial layers made by silicon, germanium, or molybdenum.