Comparison of plasma chemistries for inductively coupled plasma etching of InGaAlP alloys
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States)
- Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185 (United States)
- Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974 (United States)
Two plasma chemistries, i.e., CH{sub 4}/H{sub 2}/Ar and Cl{sub 2}/Ar, were compared for the etching of InGaP, AlInP, and AlGaP under inductively coupled plasma (ICP) conditions. While the etching with CH{sub 4}/H{sub 2}/Ar discharges appears to be ion driven, Cl{sub 2}/Ar discharges showed an additional strong chemical enhancement. The highest etch rate ({approximately}1 {mu}m/min) for InGaP was achieved at high ICP source power ({ge}750 W) with the Cl{sub 2}/Ar chemistry. Cl{sub 2}/Ar discharges provided very smooth surfaces in all three materials with root-mean-square roughness measured by atomic force microscopy around 2 nm. This result may be due to the efficient ion-assisted product desorption in this chemistry. The etched near-surface region of InGaP ({approximately}100 {Angstrom}) with Cl{sub 2}/Ar maintained almost the same stoichiometry as that of the unetched control. By contrast, the CH{sub 4}/H{sub 2}/Ar plasma chemistry produced somewhat rougher surfaces and depletion of phosphorous (P) from the surface of InGaP. {copyright} {ital 1998 American Vacuum Society.}
- OSTI ID:
- 342639
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-971029--
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, A, Journal Name: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, A Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 16; ISSN 0734-2101; ISSN JVTAD6
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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