Surface morphology and removal rates for dry- and wet-etched novel resonator materials Part II. La Ga Nb O 3 5.5 0.5 14

The wet and dry etching behavior of La3Ga5.5Nb0.5O14is reported. The ultimate application for this material is as crystal resonators whose operating frequency is inversely proportional to sample thickness. Reaction-limited wet etching in HCl or HF at G258C, or HNO3 at G608C produced removal rates up to 9500 A° Pminy1 HCl at 658C., with surface root-mean-square RMS.roughnesses about a factor of two higher than on an unetched control sample. Dry etching in Cl2-based plasmas produced removal rates up to 950 A° Pminy1, with surfaces RMS values also about a factor of two higher than on control samples. Significant surface roughening occurred during dry etching when higher ion fluxes were used. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved