US Patent 10302826 Controlling etch angles by substrate rotation in angled etch tools

Embodiments described herein relate to methods of forming gratings with different slant angles on a substrate and forming gratings with different slant angles on successive substrates using angled etch systems. The methods include positioning portions of substrates retained on a platen in a path of an ion beam. The substrates have a grating material disposed thereon. The ion beam is configured to contact the grating material at an ion beam angle ϑ relative to a surface normal of the substrates and form gratings in the grating material. The substrates are rotated about an axis of the platen resulting in rotation angles ϕ between the ion beam and a surface normal of the gratings. The gratings have slant angles ϑ′ relative to the surface normal of the substrates. The rotation angles ϕ selected by an equation ϕ=cos−1 (tan(ϑ′)/tan(ϑ)).