Vertical and Smooth Etching of InP by Cl₂/Xe Inductively Coupled Plasma

Abstract

We have demonstrated anisotropic and smooth etching of InP by an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) using Cl 2 /Xe at high substrate temperatures. We investigated the etching characteristics by varying the substrate temperature, gas pressure, Cl 2 flow rate and rf power. Vertical and smooth dry etching of InP was achieved under a low dc bias of -80 V. The ICP etching process is an effective low-damage dry-etching technique for microfabrication of InP-based optoelectronic devices.