Inductively coupled plasma etching of GaN using BCl3/Cl-2 chemistry and photoluminescence studies of the etched samples

Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching of GaN is investigated using. BCl3 /Cl-2 chemistry. The maximum etch rate is observed when the percentage of C L2 in the BCl3/Cl-2 gas mixture is about. 80-100%. From photoluminescence ( PL) study of the etched GaN samples, we found that the ICP etching creates non-radiative surface recombination states and it has been observed that: t he creation of surface stales is a minimum when the Cl-2 in the BCl3/Cl-2 m ixture is about 90-100%. The atomic force microscope (AFM) study shows that the etching does not make the surface rough and, the root mean square (rms ) roughness of the etched surface is about 3-5 nm.