Articles you may be interested inInductively coupled plasma etching of through-cell vias in III-V multijunction solar cells using SiCl4/Ar J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 31, 06FF05 (2013); 10.1116/1.4822015Detailed analysis of the influence of an inductively coupled plasma reactive-ion etching process on the hole depth and shape of photonic crystals in In P ∕ In Ga As P Low damage dry etching of III-V materials for heterojunction bipolar transistor applications using a chlorinated inductively coupled plasma Inductively coupled plasma ͑ICP͒ etching characteristics of GaSb and AlGaAsSb have been investigated in BCl 3 /Ar and Cl 2 /Ar plasmas. The etch rates and selectivity between GaSb and AlGaAsSb are reported as functions of plasma chemistry, ICP power, rf self-bias, and chamber pressure. It is found that physical sputtering desorption of the etch products plays a dominant role in BCl 3 /Ar ICP etching, while in Cl 2 /Ar plasma, the chemical reaction dominates the etching. GaSb etch rates exceeding 2 m/min are achieved in Cl 2 /Ar plasmas with smooth surfaces and anisotropic profiles. In BCl 3 /Ar plasmas, etch rates of 5100 and 4200 Å/min are obtained for GaSb and AlGaAsSb, respectively. The surfaces of both GaSb and AlGaAsSb etched in BCl 3 /Ar plasmas remain smooth and stoichiometric over the entire range of plasma conditions investigated. This result is attributed to effective removal of etch products by physical sputtering. For a wide range of plasma conditions, the selectivity between GaSb and AlGaAsSb is close to unity, which is desirable for fabricating etched mirrors and gratings for Sb-based midinfrared laser diodes.