MASS TRANSFER EFFECTS ON THE ETCH RATE OF GAAS IN FLOW SYSTEMS

Abstract

In industrial wet etching reactors, the fluid contacts the substrate surface as a spray of flowing stream, thus introducing mass-transfer resistances to the reaction rate. The etching of gallium arsenide in H2O2-NH4OH-H2O solutions was studied using an open-channel flow reactor to simulate the industrial conditions. The etch rate was always lower than that obtained under kinetic control, and the dependence of etch rate on H2O2 concentration shifted closer to first order. From the calculation of the ratio of rate constant to mass-transfer coefficient, the reaction-rate and mass-transfer resistances were both significant in this system. When the mass-transfer coefficient was calculated from equations for flow past a flat plate, the prediction of etch rate was good, particularly when the starting length for velocity boundary layer development ahead of concentration boundary layer development was taken into account. Another approach for the calculation of mass-transfer coefficient, based on the assumptions for flow between parallel plates, best represented the relative insensitivity of etch rate to fluid velocity.