Title :
Progress in reactive ion etching of epitaxial GaN
Author :
Karouta, F. ; Vreugdewater, P. ; Jacobs, B. ; van Roy, B.H. ; Schoen, O. ; Protzmann, H. ; Heuken, M.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Eindhoven Univ. of Technol., Netherlands
Abstract :
Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) of GaN epitaxially grown on (0001) sapphire substrate has been investigated using various chemistries based on SiCl4, Ar and SF6. Plasma deposited SiNx is used for masking. We studied the influence of gas flow, pressure and RF-power on etch rate and morphology. High etch rates up to 150 nm/min can be obtained when using SIC4:Ar:SF6 (10:10:2 sccm) at an acceleration voltage of 370 Volts. Very smooth surfaces and good etch rates (±100 nm/min) were obtained using the same chemistry at a lower RF-power of 105 Watts (DC-bias of ±290 V)
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; gallium compounds; semiconductor epitaxial layers; sputter etching; wide band gap semiconductors; (0001) sapphire substrate; 105 W; 290 V; 370 V; GaN; GaN epitaxial layer; reactive ion etching; Argon; Etching; Fluid flow; Gallium nitride; Morphology; Plasma applications; Plasma chemistry; Silicon carbide; Silicon compounds; Substrates;
Conference_Titel :
Optoelectronic and Microelectronic Materials Devices, 1998. Proceedings. 1998 Conference on
Conference_Location :
Perth, WA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4513-4
DOI :
10.1109/COMMAD.1998.791612
