Plasma etching of the Group-III nitrides

Conference · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:218699

Shul, R ^[1]; Pearton, S J; Abernathy, C R ^[2]

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1. Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)

In reactive ion etching (RIE) of GaN, the ion bombardment can damage the material, so it is necessary to develop plasma etch processes. This paper reports etching of GaN in an ECR (electron cyclotron resonance) etch system using both the ECR/RIE mode and the RIE-only mode. Group III (Ga, In, Al) nitride ECR etching is reviewed as a function of plasma chemistry, power, temperature, and pressure; as the ECR microwave power increased, the ion density and etch rates increased, with the etch rate increasing the most for InN. GaN etch rates > 6500 {angstrom}/min have been observed in the ECR/RIE mode. 2 figs, 6 refs.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 218699
• Report Number(s): SAND--96-0005C; CONF-960502--3; ON: DE96004578
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
42 ENGINEERING
ALUMINIUM NITRIDES
ETCHING
GALLIUM NITRIDES
INDIUM NITRIDES
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS