Photoluminescence intensity measurements from GaAs/AlGaAs and InGaAs/InAlAs
quantum well probe structures have been used to study dry-etch damage infl
icted in low power reactive ipn etching environments. Selective etching has
been employed to accumulate damage in the materials under these relatively
low damage conditions. The measured data are consistent with calculations
for channeling effects of atomic ion species, using a microscopic ion chann
eling theory. The results indicate that atomic as opposed to molecular ion
channeling may be the main mechanism for deep dry-etch damage in these envi
ronments, which suggests that gases can be selected as likely to cause low
damage. (C) 1998 American Vacuum Society. [S0734-211X(98)10606-6].