Low damage processing of III-V devices by ECR plasma techniques

Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma techniques have been used to process III-V materials with reduced electrical damage. Detailed comparisons have been made between ECR and conventional RF plasma and wet processing, through fabrication and analysis of a range of active devices. Fabrication of active devices has produced clear evidence for reduced damage compared to conventional RF plasma techniques. Both RF PECVD and ECR deposition are found to be low damage, but ECR is shown to offer advantages in certain devices. ECR etching of InP/InGaAs devices does led to some degradation, although of a lower level than that induced by reactive ion etching. GaAs MESFETs, however, show no measurable damage after ECR etching, even compared to wet etching.<>