Inductively coupled plasma etching of III-V semiconductors in BCl3-based chemistries - II. InP, InGaAs, InGaAsP, InAs and AlInAs

A parametric study of etch rates and surface morphologies of Ln-containing compound semiconductors (InP, InGaAs, InGaAsP, InAs and AlInAs) obtained by BCl3-based Inductively Coupled Plasmas (ICP) is reported. Etch rates in the range 1500-3000 Angstrom/min are obtained for all the materials at moderate source powers (500 W), with the rates being a strong function of discharge composition, rf chuck power and pressure. Typical root-mean-square surface roughness of similar to 5 nm were obtained for InP, which is worse than the values obtained for Ga-based materials under the same conditions(similar to 1 nm). The near surface of etched samples is typically slightly deficient in the group V element, but the depth of this deficiency is small (a few tens of angstroms). (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.