Inductively coupled plasma etching of GaN using BCl3/Cl2 chemistry and photoluminescence studies of the etched samples

Abstract

Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching of GaN is investigated using BCl3/Cl2 chemistry. The maximum etch rate is observed when the percentage of Cl2 in the BCl3/Cl2 gas mixture is about 80-100%. From photoluminescence (PL) study of the etched GaN samples, we found that the ICP etching creates non-radiative surface recombination states and it has been observed that the creation of surface states is a minimum when the Cl2 in the BCl3/Cl2, mixture is about 90-100%. The atomic force microscope (AFM) study shows that the etching does not make the surface rough and the root mean square (rms) roughness of the etched surface is about 3-5 nm.