Articles you may be interested inInductively coupled plasma-reactive ion etching of c-and a-plane AlGaN over the entire Al composition range: Effect of BCl3 pretreatment in Cl2/Ar plasma chemistry Evolution of surface roughness of AlN and GaN induced by inductively coupled Cl 2 / Ar plasma etching J. Appl. Phys. 95, 4635 (2004); 10.1063/1.1688993 Nonselective and smooth etching of GaN/AlGaN heterostructures by Cl 2 / Ar / BCl 3 inductively coupled plasmas J. Selective etching of GaN over AlN using an inductively coupled plasma and an O 2 / Cl 2 /Ar chemistry J.The influence of cathode coverplate material on inductively coupled plasma etching of GaN and AlGaN with 1% and 10% of Al was investigated. It was revealed that coverplate material has a great impact on the etching of Al-containing layers. Results obtained with a graphite coverplate and a Si wafer on top of a quartz coverplate indicate that etch products of coverplate material such as SiCl x , CCl x reactive species and SiCl x + , CCl x + ions play a significant role in fast and smooth etching of Al-containing layers. They act as getters to remove oxygen in the process chamber and as effective etchers for oxide layers formed by background oxygen in the process chamber. Experiments where SiCl 4 gas was added to Cl 2 / Ar plasma confirmed the role of SiCl x reactive species and SiCl x + ions for fast and smooth etching of AlGaN layers.

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