Wet Chemical Processing of Ge in Acidic H2O2 Solution: Nanoscale Etching and Surface Chemistry. (16th September 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Abrenica, Graniel Harne A.; Fingerle, Mathias; Lebedev, Mikhail V.; Arnauts, Sophia; Mayer, Thomas; Holsteyns, Frank; de Gendt, Stefan; van Dorp, Dennis H.
• Is Part Of: ECS journal of solid state science and technology. Volume 9:Number 8(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-09-16
• Subjects: Wet etching -- Surface cleaning -- Semiconductors -- Etching - Chemical -- Etching -- Microelectrnics - Semiconductor Materials -- Microelectronics - Semiconductor Processing; Solid state chemistry -- Periodicals; Electronics -- Materials -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; 541.0421
• DOI: 10.1149/2162-8777/abb1c5
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2162-8777

Abstract

Abstract : Herein, we investigate wet-chemical etching of Ge (100) in acidic H2 O2 solutions for technologically advanced device processing. Nanoscale etching kinetics data were provided by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) measurements. Rotation rate- dependent measurement showed that the hydrodynamics of the system is important. The dependence of the etch rate on the HCl concentration was considered for the range 0.001–1 M HCl. A stark difference morphologically for >1 M HCl, which resulted in a rough surface confirmed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) images, has been observed. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements provided insight in the surface chemistry of etching for device processing. Electrochemical measurements confirmed that the etching process follows a chemical mechanism. Based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data, we present reaction schemes that help to understand the results.