Investigation of chlorine-based etchants in wet and dry etching technology for an InP planar Gunn diode  

作　　者：白阳 贾锐 武德起 金智 刘新宇 林美玉 

机构地区：[1]Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences [2]China Academy of Telecommunication Research of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China (MIIT)

出　　处：《Chinese Physics B》2013年第8期576-580,共5页中国物理B（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the Main Direction Program of Knowledge Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant No.2A2011YYYJ-1123)

摘　　要：Mesa etching technology is considerably important in the Gunn diode fabrication process. In this paper we fabricate InP Gunn diodes with two different kinds of chlorine-based etchants for the mesa etching for comparative study. We use two chlorine-based etchants, one is HCl-based solution （HC1/H3PO4）, and the other is Cl2-based gas mixture by utilizing inductively coupled plasma system （ICP）. The results show that the wet etching （HCl-based） offers low cost and approximately vertical sidewall, whilst ICP system （C12-based） offers an excellent and uniform vertical sidewall, and the over-etching is tiny on the top and the bottom of mesa. And the fabricated mesas of Gunn diodes have average etching rates of 0.6 p.m/min and 1.2 pm/min, respectively. The measured data show that the current of Gunn diode by wet etching is lower than that by ICP, and the former has a higher threshold voltage. It provides a low-cost and reliable method which is potentially applied to the fabrication of chip terahertz sources.Mesa etching technology is considerably important in the Gunn diode fabrication process. In this paper we fabricate InP Gunn diodes with two different kinds of chlorine-based etchants for the mesa etching for comparative study. We use two chlorine-based etchants, one is HCl-based solution （HC1/H3PO4）, and the other is Cl2-based gas mixture by utilizing inductively coupled plasma system （ICP）. The results show that the wet etching （HCl-based） offers low cost and approximately vertical sidewall, whilst ICP system （C12-based） offers an excellent and uniform vertical sidewall, and the over-etching is tiny on the top and the bottom of mesa. And the fabricated mesas of Gunn diodes have average etching rates of 0.6 p.m/min and 1.2 pm/min, respectively. The measured data show that the current of Gunn diode by wet etching is lower than that by ICP, and the former has a higher threshold voltage. It provides a low-cost and reliable method which is potentially applied to the fabrication of chip terahertz sources.

关 键 词：InP etching InP Gunn device ICE wet chemical etching 

分 类 号：TN31[电子电信—物理电子学]