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Deep Anisotropic Etching of Gaas with Chlorine-Based Chemistries and SU-8 Mask Using Rie and High Density ICP Etching Methods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Yuh-Min (Johnson) Chiang ,
Joy Lau ,
Mark Bachman ,
G.P. Li ,
H.K. Kim ,
Yunju Ra  and
Kurt Ketola
Yuh-Min (Johnson) Chiang
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697
Joy Lau
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697
Mark Bachman
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697
G.P. Li
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697
H.K. Kim
Affiliation:
Bethel Material Research, Placentia, CA 92870
Yunju Ra
Affiliation:
Bethel Material Research, Placentia, CA 92870
Kurt Ketola
Affiliation:
Raytheon, El Segundo, CA 90245
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Abstract

GaAs-based micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) are emerging technologies, which will lead to integration of new sensing and actuating devices with microwave and millimeter-wave electronics. However, developing the capability of selective deep etching of GaAs is a critical issue to be solved. This paper presents a study of a highly anisotropic deep GaAs etching. Two different plasma etching methods were studied for GaAs etching with chlorine-based chemistries: reactive ion etching (RIE) with Cl2/BCl3/SiCl4mixtures and high-density inductive coupled plasma (HDICP) etching with Cl2/BCl3 mixtures. A negative acting photoresist, SU-8, which allows high resolution, high aspect ratio patterning with strong resistance to etchants, was selected as the etching mask for this work. Process parameters were varied for best results, and the effects of the process parameters are presented. Issues such as etch selectivity of SU-8 and GaAs, reflow of SU-8, and loading effects were also investigated. An optimized etching process was developed to achieve a deep etch in excess of 300μm of GaAs with a single layer of SU-8 photoresist.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 729: Symposium U – MEMS and BioMEMS , 2002 , U3.1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2002

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