Development of fast neutral etching for integrated circuits and nanotechnologies fast neutrals in gas

In this paper we attempt to correlate the recently developed procedure to use fast neutrals as a replacement to fast positive ions in charging free plasma etching with the development in gas discharge, atomic and molecular collision and swarm physics. It is shown how ideas in the gas discharges progressed and how, when it became well known that charging is one of the primary problems in integrated circuit manufacture, it became possible to transfer the ides directly to the processing technology. Our ability to describe sources of fast neutrals as well as possible future developments and applications are also discussed.