Vertical and Smooth Etching of InP by Cl2/Xe Inductively Coupled Plasma

We have demonstrated anisotropic and smooth etching of InP by an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) using Cl2/Xe at high substrate temperatures. We investigated the etching characteristics by varying the substrate temperature, gas pressure, Cl2 flow rate and rf power. Vertical and smooth dry etching of InP was achieved under a low dc bias of -80 V. The ICP etching process is an effective low-damage dry-etching technique for microfabrication of InP-based optoelectronic devices.