Plasma nanoscale structuring of GaAs in a high-frequency discharge of freon and freon/argon mixtures

Abstract

The high-frequency discharge plasma in chlorine-containing gases is widely used in microelectronics and nanoelectronics technology for the purification and “dry” etching of the surface of semiconductor plates and integrated circuit functional layers. In this paper we have studied the surface quality (based on roughness data) of GaAs semiconductor structure after plasma chemical etching in plasma of Freon R12 and a Freon/argon mixture. Freon R12 is often used for etching Si, Ge, and other materials (GaAs, GaP, and InP), ensuring technologically acceptable interaction rates, and satisfies the requirements of anisotropy and selectivity. Mixtures of “active” gases with inert ones (He or Ar) are also widely used; they can act both as diluent gases and ion sources for the ion bombardment of samples to provide more ionic stimulation of desorption of reaction products that improve the useful properties of the surface with a slight decrease in etching rate.