Plasma separation of InGaAsP/InP light-emitting diodes

The application of plasma etching to the separation of InP/InGaAsP light-emitting diodes (LED’s) is reported. Device wafers (75 μm thick) were separated by fast (0.6 μm/min) anisotropic (2:1) etching in a CCl4/O2 plasma at 300 °C. The LED’s showed significant improvements in their reverse leakage currents over similar devices separated by conventional mechanical means. We find the separation-induced mechanical damage to be significant for conventional techniques causing both performance and yield loss. In contrast, the etched surfaces were free of mechanical damage resulting in a 100% yield of separated devices.