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Thermal etching process of microscale pits on the GaAs(001) surface
Author(s) -
Li Shibin,
Wu Jiang,
Wang Zhiming,
Li Zhenhua,
Su Yuanjie,
Wu Zhiming,
Jiang Yadong,
Salamo Gregory J.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
physica status solidi (rrl) – rapid research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.786
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1862-6270
pISSN - 1862-6254
DOI - 10.1002/pssr.201105482
Subject(s) - microscale chemistry , materials science , scanning electron microscope , torr , vacuum chamber , gallium arsenide , substrate (aquarium) , ultra high vacuum , vacuum evaporation , optoelectronics , etching (microfabrication) , annealing (glass) , gallium , nanotechnology , composite material , thin film , metallurgy , oceanography , mathematics education , mathematics , physics , layer (electronics) , thermodynamics , geology
When a GaAs(001) substrate is heated up to 650 °C in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) vacuum chamber with vacuum range from 10 –4 Torr to 10 –5 Torr, real‐time SEM observation reveals microscale pits on GaAs substrate surface. The annealing process of GaAs substrate in vacuum causes excess evaporation of arsenic and accumulation of gallium as liquid droplets on the surface. As the function of electrochemical drills, the gallium droplets etch away GaAs beneath the surface to make microscale holes on GaAs substrate. With small amount of oxygen in the chamber acting as etching catalyst, gallium droplets etch GaAs much faster than in ultra‐high vacuum (UHV) MBE chamber. This process provides an easy technique to fabricate microscale pits on GaAs(001) surface.Top view of microscale pits, (a) 8000× magnification view of pit; (b) 15000× magnification view of pit. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)