Dry etch damage in InN, InGaN, and InAlN

Journal Article · Mon Oct 16 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.114334· OSTI ID:118386

Pearton, S J; Lee, J W; MacKenzie, J D; Abernathy, C R ^[1]; Shul, R J ^[2]

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1. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States)
2. Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 (United States)

Changes in conductivity of InN, In{sub 0.5}Ga{sub 0.5}N, and In{sub 0.5}Al{sub 0.5}N layers exposed to Ar plasmas under both electron cyclotron resonance and reactive ion etching conditions have been measured as a function of rf power, pressure, and exposure time. The combination of high microwave and high rf powers produces large increases (10--10{sup 4} times) in sheet resistance of the nitrides, but conditions more typical of real etching processes (rf power {lt}150 W) do not change the electrical properties. The nitrides are more resistant to damage introduction than other III--V semiconductors. The removal of damage-related traps occurs with an activation energy of {similar_to}2.7 eV. {copyright} {ital 1995} {ital American} {ital Institute} {ital of} {ital Physics}.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratory
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 118386
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 16 Vol. 67; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
66 PHYSICS
ALUMINIUM NITRIDES
DAMAGE
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ETCHING
GALLIUM NITRIDES
INDIUM NITRIDES
PLASMA