Photochemical dry etching of GaAs

Abstract

GaAs exhibits greatly enhanced reactivity with gas-phase reactive Cl species when the surface is irradiated with low intensity laser light having a frequency which can excite above the band gap of GaAs. This laser-induced reactivity is shown to be photochemical rather than thermal in origin. This is the first reported observation of a purely photochemical dry etching process for a III-V semiconductor material.