Effect of BCl3 concentration and process pressure on the GaN mesa sidewalls in BCl3/Cl2 based inductively coupled plasma etching

Rawal, D. S.; Sehgal, B. K.; Muralidharan, R.; Malik, Hitendra K.; DasGupta, Amitava

doi:10.1016/j.vacuum.2012.04.018

Cited by 29 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…that mesa edges were damaged by chlorine ions caused by BCl3/Cl2 discharge during ICP etching [16]. This is due to the photoresist mask erosion caused by enhanced physical bombardment and chemical components; the distorted pattern is then transferred to the GaN, resulting in deteriorated mesa sidewall morphology [9]. A high-temperature hard baking (post-develop baking) prior to the ICP etching can help to eliminate the PR burning/erosion issues [19].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, the formation of highly anisotropic profiles of the mesa structure in the etching process is crucial for quasi-vertical GaN devices [6]. Most efforts on the reduction of surface damage and roughness of mesas [7] have been made using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) power, radio frequency 2 of 13 (RF) power, the ratio of etching gas, flow rate [8][9][10][11], and mask selection [12]. Moreover, the steepness of the mesa sidewall has also been investigated using ICP dry etching [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optimization of Mesa Etch for a Quasi-Vertical GaN Schottky Barrier Diode (SBD) by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) and Device Characteristics

et al. 2020

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The optimization of mesa etch for a quasi-vertical gallium nitride (GaN) Schottky barrier diode (SBD) by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching was comprehensively investigated in this work, including selection of the etching mask, ICP power, radio frequency (RF) power, ratio of mixed gas, flow rate, and chamber pressure, etc. In particular, the microtrench at the bottom corner of the mesa sidewall was eliminated by a combination of ICP dry etching and tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) wet treatment. Finally, a highly anisotropic profile of the mesa sidewall was realized by using the optimized etch recipe, and a quasi-vertical GaN SBD was demonstrated, achieving a low reverse current density of 10−8 A/cm2 at −10 V.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of Mesa Etch for a Quasi-Vertical GaN Schottky Barrier Diode (SBD) by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) and Device Characteristics

et al. 2020

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“…7,8,14 One of the most effective chlorine-based etching processes involves inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE), which provides high-density plasma with independently controlled system parameters. 20 It is important to develop improved etching processes for SiC with two major kinds of chlorine-based etchant gases, BCl 3 /Ar and Cl 2 /Ar, where the dominant etching mechanism a) Electronic mail: huseyin.ekinci@ttu.edu is mainly either physical sputtering or a chemical reaction. [16][17][18] Using this approach, we have fabricated mesa light emitting diodes with low resistive contacts on n-type plasma-etched AlGaN surfaces.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of BCl3 in chlorine-based plasma on etching 4H-SiC for photoconductive semiconductor switch applications

Ekinci

Kuryatkov

Mauch

et al. 2014

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phen

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Inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) of n-type SiC epitaxial layers grown on ð000 1Þ 4H-SiC semi-insulating substrates has been investigated using chlorine-based plasma. The etch rate and postetching surface morphology have been studied as functions of the plasma composition, ICP power, RIE power, and process pressure. The authors found that the surface smoothness of the epitaxial layer was increased by introducing BCl 3 into Cl 2 /Ar plasma. An optimized process has been developed yielding etch rates of $220 nm/min and very smooth surfaces with root mean square roughness of $0.3 nm. The spatial-frequency dependence of the one dimensional power spectral density was interpreted using the surface height function h(x) including a low-frequency range, which exhibits saturation and a high-frequency range, which exhibits scaling properties. Through this etching process, the effects of subcontact doping on 4H-SiC photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) performance were investigated. A PCSS was fabricated using this etching process with a 1 lm heavily doped (1.6 Â 10 18 cm À3 n-type) epitaxial layer beneath the device contacts and compared with a PCSS fabricated with a subcontact doped layer created through laser enhanced diffusion ($50 nm depth, 2.0 Â 10 18 cm À3 n-type). The PCSS with the epitaxial layer demonstrated on average a 30% reduction in minimum on-state resistance, and eliminated cracking of the bulk material when switching currents 38 A.

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“…8,11 More recently, variations of etch angles using a photoresist as an etch mask have been demonstrated. 12 As photoresist is known to have a low selectivity compared to GaN, 13 we investigate different mask materials on the etch angle. With the preferential mask material, different etch process parameters and their influence on the etch angle are also investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of mask material and process parameters on etch angle in a chlorine-based GaN dry etch

Hahn

Gruis

Ketteniss

et al. 2012

Journal of Vacuum Science &Amp; Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films

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Effect of BCl3 concentration and process pressure on the GaN mesa sidewalls in BCl3/Cl2 based inductively coupled plasma etching

Cited by 29 publications

References 21 publications

Optimization of Mesa Etch for a Quasi-Vertical GaN Schottky Barrier Diode (SBD) by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) and Device Characteristics

Optimization of Mesa Etch for a Quasi-Vertical GaN Schottky Barrier Diode (SBD) by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) and Device Characteristics

Effect of BCl3 in chlorine-based plasma on etching 4H-SiC for photoconductive semiconductor switch applications

Influence of mask material and process parameters on etch angle in a chlorine-based GaN dry etch

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