Reactive Ion Beam Etching of In-Containing Compound Semiconductors in an Inductively Coupled Cl2/Ar Plasma

Reactive ion beam etching (RIBE) of InP, InGaAs, InGaAsP, InAs, InAlAs and InSb was performed in a Cl 2 /Ar mixture using an inductively coupled plasma source. The etch rate and etch yield for InP showed the most significant variation with substrate temperature, while all the material etch rates were strongly dependent on ion energy. The etching was dominated by ion-assisted mechanisms up to ion energies of ∼600 eV and by physical sputtering at higher energies. The high density plasma accelerates etch rates predominantly by ion-neutral synergism and not by subverting the usual etch reactions.