Dry etching of III-V nitrides

Book · Thu Oct 31 23:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:395025

Pearton, S J ^[1]; Shul, R J ^[2]; McLane, G F ^[3]; Constantine, C ^[4]

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1. Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
2. Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
3. Army Research Lab., Fort Monmouth, NJ (United States)
4. Plasma Therm IP, St. Petersburg, FL (United States)

The chemical inertness and high bond strengths of the III-V nitrides lead to slower plasma etching rates than for more conventional III-V semiconductors under the same conditions. High ion density conditions (> 3 {times} 10{sup 11} cm{sup {minus}3}) such as those obtained in ECR or magnetron reactors produce etch rates up to an order of magnitude higher than for RIE, where the ion densities are in the 10{sup 9} cm{sup {minus}3} range. The authors have developed smooth anisotropic dry etches for GaN, InN, and AlN and their alloys based on Cl{sub 2}/CH{sub 4}/H{sub 2}/Ar, BCl{sub 3}/Ar, Cl{sub 2}/H{sub 2}, Cl{sub 2}/SF{sub 6}, HBr/H{sub 2} and HI/H{sub 2} plasma chemistries achieving etch rates up to {approximately} 4,000 {angstrom}/min at moderate dc bias voltages ({le}-150 V). Ion-induced damage in the nitrides appears to be less apparent than in other III-V`s. One of the key remaining issues is the achievement of high selectivities for removal of one layer from another.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratory
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 395025
• Report Number(s): CONF-951155--; ISBN 1-55899-298-7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
42 ENGINEERING
ALUMINIUM NITRIDES
ARGON
BORON CHLORIDES
CHLORINE
ECR ION SOURCES
ETCHING
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GALLIUM NITRIDES
HYDRIODIC ACID
HYDROBROMIC ACID
HYDROGEN
INDIUM NITRIDES
LIGHT EMITTING DIODES
METHANE
PLASMA
ROUGHNESS
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SEMICONDUCTOR DETECTORS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SULFUR FLUORIDES
TRANSISTORS