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New plasma chemistries for etching III–V compound semiconductors: Bl3 and BBr3

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Abstract

We investigated inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching of both In-containing (InP, InAs, and InSb) and Ga-containing compound semiconductors (GaAs, GaP, and GaSb) in two new chemistries: BI3 and BBr3 with addition of Ar. Etch rates as high as 2 µm·min−1 were obtained for InP in both types of discharge while for GaAs maximum rates were 1 and 2.5 µm·min−1, respectively, in BI3 and BBr3. The rates were strongly dependent on plasma composition, ICP source power and radio frquency chuck power. BI3 etching produced much smoother surfaces on both GaAs and InP, while maintaining the near-surface stoichiometry. Etch selectivities ≥ 10 were obtained for GaAs and InP over SiO2 and SiNx masks. The BI3 chemistry appears attractive as an universal etchant for In-based and Ga-based compound semiconductors.

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Maeda, T., Cho, H., Hong, J. et al. New plasma chemistries for etching III–V compound semiconductors: Bl3 and BBr3 . J. Electron. Mater. 28, 118–123 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-999-0229-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-999-0229-1

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