In:
ECS Transactions, The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 2, No. 5 ( 2006-04-28), p. 209-216
Abstract:
CH 4 /H 2 and C 2 H 6 /H 2 -based discharges are attractive for dry etching of single crystal ZnO because of their non-corrosive nature. We show that substitution of C 2 H 6 for CH 4 increases the ZnO etch rate by approximately a factor of 2 both with and without any inert gas additive. The C 2 H 6 /H 2 /Ar mixture provides a strong enhancement over pure Ar sputtering, in sharp contrast to the case of CH 4 /H 2 /Ar.The threshold ion energy for initiating etching is 42.4 eV for C 2 H 6 /H 2 /Ar and 59.8eV for CH 4 /H 2 /Ar. The etched surface morphologies were smooth, independent of the chemistry and the Zn/O ratio in the near-surface region was unchanged within experimental error after etching with both chemistries. The plasma etching improved the band-edge photoluminescence intensity and suppressed the deep level emission from the bulk ZnO under our conditions, due possibly to removal of surface contamination layer.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1938-5862
,
1938-6737
Language:
Unknown
Publisher:
The Electrochemical Society
Publication Date:
2006
