Ion Beam Etching of InP. II. Reactive Etching with Halogen-Based Source Gases

Abstract

The reactive-ion beam etching (R-IBE) characteristics of InP with Cl2, CCl2F2 and CHF3 have been studied. Some R-IBE characteristics of GaAs have also been studied. The etching rate for each gas has been determined as a function of ion energy, current density and angle of indidence. The highest etching rate, around 2000 Å/min, is obtained in Cl2-IBE, while the two other source gases yield an etching rate lower than that of Ar-IBE. In the case of CCl2F2-IBE, the addition of Ar is found to enhance the etching considerably. These IBE techniques are used to fabricate a grating structure with a period around 2500 A.