Diffusion mechanism of fluorine in plasma processing of III–V semiconductor compounds

Abstract

III–V semiconductors have attracted attention as high mobility channel materials in advanced metal oxide semiconductors. However, there is a possibility that their characteristics deteriorate owing to the damage caused by dry etching when processing the channel material. We focus on dry etching damage to InP and investigate the diffusion and injection of various elements. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) shows that a fluorine atom can easily diffuse into the III–V semiconductor. Furthermore, we investigate the diffusion depths of other elements to determine the activation energies by using first-principles calculations. The SIMS results show the diffusion distance in the bulk InP is strongly correlated with the activation energy. Additionally, radicals containing F can easily diffuse into InP. Therefore, the number of radicals present in the gas phase of the plasma is important. An increase in the adsorption probability of the surface, owing to ion bombardment and knock-on phenomenon, is assumed.

Characterization techniques of ion bombardment damage on electronic devices during plasma processing—plasma process-induced damage

“…Physical analyses have been applied to the evaluation of PPD to other semiconductor crystalline structures (GaAs, 34,35) GaN, 25,26) InP, 159) etc.). PPD to GaAs-based structures was evaluated by photoluminescence (PL), diode current, contact resistance, and heterostructure bipolar transistor performance.…”

Optical and electrical evaluation methods of plasma-induced damage in InP substrates

“…For structural analyses, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are used to identify the surface-modified regions. [15][16][17] Auger electron spectroscopy, 16,17) secondary ion mass spectroscopy, 16,18) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy 16,19) assign the chemical composition change, i.e., phosphorus evacuation from InP substrates. For electrical analyses, capacitance-voltage (C-V ) and current-voltage (I-V ) measurements are performed.…”