Influence of CH4/H2 reactive ion etching on the deep levels of Si-doped AlxGa1−xAs (x=0.25)

Abstract

We study the passivation and recovery of shallow and deep levels in Si-doped AlGaAs exposed to CH4/H2 and H2 reactive ion etching (RIE). The carrier concentration depth profile is determined by capacitance–voltage measurements. The activation energy to recover the silicon donors is found to be 1.1 eV for samples exposed to CH4/H2 RIE and 1.3 eV for samples exposed to H2 RIE. We study the behavior of DX centers in Si-doped AlGaAs layers after RIE exposure and subsequent thermal annealing by using deep level transient spectroscopy. For CH4/H2 RIE a new emission is detected at the high temperature side. We identify this emission as the DX3 center, which is assigned to a DX center with three aluminum atoms surrounding the Si donor. This DX center is only detected on the samples exposed to CH4/H2 RIE. We explain the formation of this deep level to the highly selective removal of Ga atoms in favor of Al atoms. Consequently Al-rich regions are created near the surface.