AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition
    Plasma Science and Technology Friday Sessions
       Session PS+SS+TF-FrM

Paper PS+SS+TF-FrM9
Atomic Layer Etching of InGaAs using Cl2/Ar Ion Beam

Friday, October 23, 2015, 11:00 am, Room 210B

Session: Atomic Layer Etching (ALE) and Low-Damage Processes II
Presenter: Jinwoo Park, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
Authors: J.W. Park, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
D.H. Yun, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
H.S. Kim, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
G.Y. Yeom, Sungkyunkwan University, Republic of Korea
Correspondent: Click to Email
Atomic layer etching can be one of next-generation etching techniques that can be applied to various materials including III-V compounds semiconducting materials such as indium-gallium arsenide (InGaAs) which is a great potential material due to the high carrier mobility for nano-scale devices. In this study, the atomic layer etching characteristics of InGaAs has been investigated using chlorine as adsorption gas and low energy Ar ion for desorption during the etch cycle to control the etch depth precisely and to minimize the surface damage of the material. For the chlorine adsorption, chlorine radical was adsorbed on the InGaAs surface and, during the desorption, the chlorine adsorbed InGaAs was removed by the Ar ion with the energy of about 20eV. By using the atomic layer etching technique, the controlled InGaAs etch depth per cycle and very high etch selectivity of InGaAs over dielectric materials such as silicon dioxide and hafnium dioxide could be obtained. The surface roughness of etched InGaAs characterized by atomic force microscopy was similar to that of un-etched InGaAs at the atomic layer etching condition.