Dry etching of III-V nitrides

Book · Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 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 Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 395025
• Report Number(s): CONF-951155-; ISBN 1-55899-298-7; TRN: IM9648%%102
• Resource Relation: Conference: Fall meeting of the Materials Research Society (MRS), Boston, MA (United States), 27 Nov - 1 Dec 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Gallium nitride and related materials; Ponce, F.A. [ed.] [Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, CA (United States)]; Dupuis, R.D. [ed.] [Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)]; Nakamura, S. [ed.] [Nichia Chemical Industries, Tokushima (Japan)]; Edmond, J.A. [ed.] [Cree Research, Inc., Durham, NC (United States)]; PB: 993 p.; Materials Research Society symposium proceedings, Volume 395
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
42 ENGINEERING NOT INCLUDED IN OTHER CATEGORIES
GALLIUM NITRIDES
ETCHING
INDIUM NITRIDES
ALUMINIUM NITRIDES
LIGHT EMITTING DIODES
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SEMICONDUCTOR DETECTORS
TRANSISTORS
PLASMA
ECR ION SOURCES
CHLORINE
METHANE
HYDROGEN
ARGON
BORON CHLORIDES
SULFUR FLUORIDES
HYDROBROMIC ACID
HYDRIODIC ACID
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ROUGHNESS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA