Recent Advances in Plasma‐Enhanced Atomic Layer Etching for Next‐Generation Nanofabrication

ABSTRACT The relentless miniaturization of semiconductor devices has shifted manufacturing paradigms toward atomic‐level precision, requiring film surfaces with sub‐atomic‐scale smoothness. From the perspective of deterministic material removal, conventional reactive ion etching (RIE) is inadequate to meet these stringent demands. Plasma‐enhanced atomic layer etching (PEALE), which offers the dual modalities of thermally activated isotropic etching and low‐energy ion‐driven anisotropic etching, has emerged as an indispensable technology for addressing these critical processing bottlenecks. This review systematically surveys recent advances in both isotropic and anisotropic PEALE, with a primary focus on progress reported since 2020. It first introduces the underlying fundamentals of diverse PEALE mechanisms, followed by a comprehensive overview of their applications to Si‐based dielectrics, GaN and III‐V compounds, transition metal oxides/nitrides, 2D materials, and metallic thin films. Hardware innovations, including advanced plasma sources and tailored bias configurations, are then evaluated. Furthermore, this work elucidates the mechanisms governing surface roughness evolution during ALE. Finally, multi‐process integration strategies, specifically hybrid RIE+ALE and atomic layer deposition (ALD)+ALE frameworks, are discussed before the article concludes with a forward‐looking summary and outlook for the field.