Laser chemical etching of vias in GaAs

Abstract

Rapid drilling of vias in thick wafers (381 µm) of GaAs has been achieved by a laser assisted etching process. The technique utilized a cw visible argon ion laser and an etchant gas of low pressure Cl <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> . Data on the dependence of the etch rate on the laser power, wavelength, and Cl <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> gas pressure are presented.