Reactive ion etching of III-V semiconductor compounds
AssigneeBell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
InventorLarry A. Coldren
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Abstract
The successful application of the reactive ion etching technique to the III-V compounds requires the use of the appropriate etch gas. We have found that a gas mixture of chlorine (Cl.sub.2) and Oxygen (O.sub.2) will cleanly and effectively etch heated substrates of GaAs and InP and their ternary and quaternary alloys. The etch rate is increased by heating the substrate to a temperature of 100.degree. to 400.degree. C.
Claims3
A process for etching InP, GaAs and their alloys in which a plasma is ignited between two electrodes and the substrates are placed on the cathode electrode to which rf power is applied,
- characterized in that
- the gas is a mixture of Cl.sub.2 and O.sub.2 maintained at a pressure of between 1-10 millitorr, and the rf power is applied with a power density of between 0.1-1.0 watts/cm.sup.2 of cathode area.
A process for etching material comprising InP which comprises the steps of:
- igniting a plasma in a gas disposed between a cathode electrode and a second electrode by applying rf power to said cathode electrode and placing said material on said cathode electrode,
- characterized in that
- the gas is a mixture of Cl.sub.2 and O.sub.2 maintained at a pressure of between 1-10 millitorr, and the rf power is applied with a power density of between 0.1-1.0 watts/cm.sup.2 of cathode area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.