ECR etching of group-III nitride binary and ternary films
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States); and others
Due to their wide band gaps and high dielectric constants, the group III-nitrides have made significant impact on the compound semiconductor community as blue and ultraviolet light emitting diodes (LEDs) and for their potential use in laser structures and high temperature electronics. Processing of these materials, in particular wet and dry etching, has proven to be extremely difficult due to their inert chemical nature. We report electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) etch rates for GaN, InN, AlN, In{sub (x)}Ga{sub (1-x)}Ni and In{sub (x)}Al{sub (1-x)}N as a function of temperature, rf-power, pressure, and microwave power. Etch conditions are characterized for rate, profile, and sidewall and surface morphology. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is used to quantify RMS roughness of the etched surfaces. We observe consistent trends for the InAlN films where the etch rates increase with increasing concentration of In. The trends are far less consistent for the InGaN with a general decrease in etch rate as the In concentration is increased.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 110748
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-95-2101C; CONF-951007-4; ON: DE96000782; TRN: 95:007290
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 188. meeting of the Electrochemical Society, Chicago, IL (United States), 8-13 Oct 1995; Other Information: PBD: [1995]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Selective dry etching of III-V nitrides in Cl{sub 2}/Ar, CH{sub 4}/H{sub 2}/Ar, ICi/Ar, and IBr/Ar
Inductively coupled plasma etching of III-V nitrides in CH{sub 4}/H{sub 2}/Ar and CH{sub 4}/H{sub 2}/N{sub 2} chemistries