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GaN Etching in BCl3/Cl2 Plasmas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

R. J. Shul ,
C. I. H. Ashby ,
C. G. Willison ,
L. Zhang ,
J. Han ,
M. M. Bridges ,
S. J. Pearton ,
J. W. Lee  and
L. F. Lester
R. J. Shul
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0603, rjshul@sandia.gov
C. I. H. Ashby
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0603, rjshul@sandia.gov
C. G. Willison
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0603, rjshul@sandia.gov
L. Zhang
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0603, rjshul@sandia.gov
J. Han
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0603, rjshul@sandia.gov
M. M. Bridges
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM 87185-0603, rjshul@sandia.gov
S. J. Pearton
Affiliation:
University of Florida, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Gainesville, FL 32611
J. W. Lee
Affiliation:
Plasma-Therm, Inc., St. Petersburg, FL 33716
L. F. Lester
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico, Electrical Engineering, Albuquerque, NM
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Abstract

GaN etching can be affected by a wide variety of parameters including plasma chemistry and plasma density. Chlorine-based plasmas have been the most widely used plasma chemistries to etch GaN due to the high volatility of the GaClx and NClx etch products. The source of Cl and the addition of secondary gases can dramatically influence the etch characteristics primarily due to their effect on the concentration of reactive Cl generated in the plasma. In addition, high-density plasma etch systems have yielded high quality etching of GaN due to plasma densities which are 2 to 4 orders of magnitude higher than reactive ion etch (RIE) plasma systems. The high plasma densities enhance the bond breaking efficiency of the GaN, the formation of volatile etch products, and the sputter desorption of the etch products from the surface. In this study, we report GaN etch results for a high-density inductively coupled plasma (ICP) as a function of BCl3:Cl2 flow ratio, dc-bias, chamber pressure, and ICP source power. GaN etch rates ranging from ∼100 Å/min to > 8000 Å/min were obtained with smooth etch morphology and anisotropic profiles.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 512: Symposium F – Wide Bandgap Semiconductors for High Power, High Frequency , 1998 , 487
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1998

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References

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