ATOMIC LAYER ETCHING OF GaN AND OTHER III-V MATERIALS
First Claim
1. A method of etching a III-V material on a substrate, comprising:
- a) exposing the III-V material to a chlorine-containing plasma without biasing the substrate to form a modified III-V surface layer; and
b) applying a bias voltage to the substrate while exposing the modified III-V surface layer to an inert plasma to thereby remove the modified III-V surface layer.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Provided herein are ALE methods of removing III-V materials such as gallium nitride (GaN) and related apparatus. In some embodiments, the methods involve exposing the III-V material to a chlorine-containing plasma without biasing the substrate to form a modified III-V surface layer; and applying a bias voltage to the substrate while exposing the modified III-V surface layer to a plasma to thereby remove the modified III-V surface layer. The disclosed methods are suitable for a wide range of applications, including etching processes for trenches and holes, fabrication of HEMTs, fabrication of LEDs, and improved selectivity in etching processes.
-
Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A method of etching a III-V material on a substrate, comprising:
-
a) exposing the III-V material to a chlorine-containing plasma without biasing the substrate to form a modified III-V surface layer; and b) applying a bias voltage to the substrate while exposing the modified III-V surface layer to an inert plasma to thereby remove the modified III-V surface layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the underlayer is AlGaN.
-
16. An apparatus for processing semiconductor substrates, the apparatus comprising:
-
a process chamber comprising a substrate support; a power supply connected to the substrate support; a plasma generator; and a controller having at least one processor and a memory, wherein the at least one processor and the memory are communicatively connected with one another, and the memory stores machine-readable instructions for; (i) introducing a chlorine-containing gas to the plasma generator; (ii) igniting a chlorine-containing plasma in the plasma generator; (iii) exposing a substrate to the chlorine-containing plasma to modify a III-V layer on the substrate without biasing the substrate; (iv) introducing an inert gas to the plasma generator; (v) igniting an inert plasma in the plasma generator; and (vi) using the power supply to apply a bias voltage to the substrate while exposing the substrate to the inert plasma to remove the modified layer.
-
Specification