Inductively coupled plasma etching of III–V semiconductors in BCl -based chemistries 3 II. InP, InGaAs, InGaAsP, InAs and AlInAs

A parametric study of etch rates and surface morphologies of In-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 A°rmin 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 ;5 nm were obtained for InP, which is worse than the values obtained for Ga-based materials under the same conditions ;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.. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.