A novel oxidation-based wet etching method for AlGaN/GaN heterostructures

作者:Cai Jinbao Wang Jinyan Liu Yang Xu Zhe Wang Maojun Yu Min Xie Bing and Wu Wengang Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Laboratory Institute of Microelectronics Peking University Beijing China
来源:Chinese Journal of Semiconductors, 2013, (08): 201-204.

摘要

<正>A novel wet etching method for AlGaN/GaN heterojunction structures is proposed using thermal oxidation f ollowed by wet etching in KOH solution.It is found that an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure after high temperature oxidation above 700℃could be etched off in a homothermal(70℃) KOH solution while the KOH solution had no etching effects on the region of the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure protected by a SiO2 layer during the oxidation process.A groove structure with 150 nm step depth on an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure was formed after 8 h thermal oxidation at 900℃followed by 30 min treatment in 70℃KOH solution.As the oxidation time increases,the etching depth approaches saturation and the roughness of the etched surface becomes much better.The physical mechanism of this phenomenon is also discussed.