TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of inductively coupled plasma etching conditions on the formation of semi-polar (11 2‾2) and non-polar (11 2‾0) GaN nanorods
AU - Coulon, Pierre Marie
AU - Feng, Peng
AU - Wang, Tao
AU - Shields, Philip A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: The authors would like to acknowledge financial support of the EPSRC, UK via Grant No. EP/M015181/1, “Manufacturing nano-engineered III-nitrides”.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12/20
Y1 - 2020/12/20
N2 - The formation of gallium nitride (GaN) semi-polar and non-polar nanostructures is of importance for improving light extraction/absorption of optoelectronic devices, creating optical resonant cavities or reducing the defect density. However, very limited studies of nanotexturing via dry etching have been performed, in comparison to wet etching. In this paper, we investigate the formation and morphology of semi-polar (1122) and non-polar (1120) GaN nanorods using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching. The impact of gas chemistry, pressure, temperature, radio-frequency (RF) and ICP power and time are explored. A dominant chemical component is found to have a significant impact on the morphology, being impacted by the polarity of the planes. In contrast, increasing the physical component enables the impact of crystal orientation to be minimized to achieve a circular nanorod profile with inclined sidewalls. These conditions were obtained for a small percentage of chlorine (Cl2) within the Cl2 + argon (Ar) plasma combined with a low pressure. Damage to the crystal was reduced by lowering the direct current (DC) bias through a reduction of the RF power and an increase of the ICP power.
AB - The formation of gallium nitride (GaN) semi-polar and non-polar nanostructures is of importance for improving light extraction/absorption of optoelectronic devices, creating optical resonant cavities or reducing the defect density. However, very limited studies of nanotexturing via dry etching have been performed, in comparison to wet etching. In this paper, we investigate the formation and morphology of semi-polar (1122) and non-polar (1120) GaN nanorods using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching. The impact of gas chemistry, pressure, temperature, radio-frequency (RF) and ICP power and time are explored. A dominant chemical component is found to have a significant impact on the morphology, being impacted by the polarity of the planes. In contrast, increasing the physical component enables the impact of crystal orientation to be minimized to achieve a circular nanorod profile with inclined sidewalls. These conditions were obtained for a small percentage of chlorine (Cl2) within the Cl2 + argon (Ar) plasma combined with a low pressure. Damage to the crystal was reduced by lowering the direct current (DC) bias through a reduction of the RF power and an increase of the ICP power.
KW - Dry etching
KW - GaN
KW - Inductively coupled plasma
KW - Light emitting devices
KW - Morphology
KW - Nanostructures
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85098140123&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/nano10122562
DO - 10.3390/nano10122562
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85098140123
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - Nanomaterials
JF - Nanomaterials
SN - 2079-4991
IS - 12
M1 - 2562
ER -