STUDY OF REACTIVE ION ETCHING-INDUCED DAMAGE IN GAAS ALGAAS STRUCTURES USING A QUANTUM-WELL INTERMIXING PROBE/

We report the damage distribution induced by C2F6 and SiCl4 reactive i on etching (RIE) using quantum wells and quantum well intermixing (QWI ) as probes. Photoluminescence emission at 77 K was measured both befo re and after rapid thermal annealing at 900 degrees C for 30 s. Our re sults show that the QWI probing technique can effectively be utilized as a sensitive probe of RIE damage. A damage depth of 650 Angstrom bef ore annealing and blue shifts of up to 65 meV after annealing were obt ained in C2F6 RIE regions. A damage depth of 100 Angstrom and blue shi fts of up to 30 meV were observed in SiCl4, RIE regions.