Performance evaluation of GaN etching using Cl2-based plasma with bias pulsing

Abstract

Reducing plasma-induced damage (PID) is one of the most challenging goals for the fabrication of GaN-based MOS-HEMT. In this paper, we propose a performance evaluation of a Cl2-based etching chemistry using bias pulsing mode for GaN applications. The plasma-induced damage using bias pulsing has been compared to conventional reactive ion etching (RIE) and atomic layer etching (ALE) processes using sheet resistance (Rsheet) measurements. This pulsing mode showed low plasma-induced damage, similar to ALE. In addition, it keeps an acceptable GaN etching rate, showing that pulsing mode has potential for industrial applications.