ChemInform Abstract: Reactive Ion Etching of GaAs in Chlorine and Resulting Surface Damage.

Reactive ion etching of SiC induced surface damage, e.g., micromasking effect induced coarse and textured surface, is one of the main concerns in the fabrication of SiC based power devices [1]. Based on CHF3 + O2 plasma, 4H-SiC was etched under a wide range of RF power. Extreme coarse and textured etched surfaces were observed under certain etching conditions. A super-linear relationship was found between the surface roughness and RF power when the latter was varied from 40 to 160 W. A further increase in the RF power to 200 W caused the surface roughness to drop abruptly from its maximum value of 182.4 nm to its minimum value of 1.3 nm. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) results revealed that besides the Al micromasking effect, the carbon residue that formed a carbon-rich layer, could also play a significant role in affecting the surface roughness. Based on the AES results, an alternative explanation on the origin of the coarse surface is proposed.

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Surface Damage on GaAs Induced by Reactive Ion Etching and Sputter Etching

Journal of The Electrochemical Society ◽

10.1149/1.2108677 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 133 (4) ◽

pp. 784-787 ◽

Cited By ~ 99

Author(s):

S. W. Pang

Keyword(s):

Reactive Ion Etching ◽

Surface Damage ◽

Ion Etching ◽

Sputter Etching

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Low Damage Magnetron Reactive Ion Etching of GaAs

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-240-323 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 240 ◽

Author(s):

G. Mclane ◽

M. Meyyappan ◽

M. W. Cole ◽

H. S. Lee ◽

R. Lareau ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Minimal Surface ◽

Reactive Ion Etching ◽

Surface Region ◽

Surface Damage ◽

Silicon Tetrachloride ◽

Attractive Alternative ◽

Ion Etching

ABSTRACTMagnetron reactive ion etching is an attractive alternative to reactive ion etching since it has the potential for producing minimal surface damage while still retaining the advantages of reactive ion etching. We report here the results of a study of GaAs magnetron ion etching using Freon-12 and silicon tetrachloride etch gases. Differences are found in etch profiles and surface region characteristics of GaAs samples etched by the two gases. The relevant mechanisms are discussed.

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A Comparative Study on the Effects of Passivation Methods on the Carrier Lifetime of RIE and MACE Silicon Micropillars

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app9091804 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. 1804

Author(s):

Amal Kabalan

Keyword(s):

Comparative Study ◽

Surface Treatment ◽

Chemical Etching ◽

Carrier Lifetime ◽

Surface Passivation ◽

Reactive Ion Etching ◽

Surface Damage ◽

Ion Etching ◽

Metal Assisted Chemical Etching

Silicon micropillars have been suggested as one of the techniques for improving the efficiency of devices. Fabrication of micropillars has been done in several ways—Metal Assisted Chemical Etching (MACE) and Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) being the most popular techniques. These techniques include etching through the surface which results in surface damage that affects the carrier lifetime. This paper presents a study that compares the carrier lifetime of micropillars fabricated using RIE and MACE methods. It also looks at increasing carrier lifetime by surface treatment using three main approaches: surface passivation by depositing Al2O3, surface passivation by depositing SiO2/SiN, and surface passivation by etching using KOH and Hydrofluoric Nitric Acetic (HNA) solution. It was concluded that passivating with SiO2 and SiN results in the highest carrier lifetime on the MACE and RIE pillars.

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