Electronic properties of GaAs surfaces etched in an electron cyclotron resonance source and chemically passivated using P2S5

Photoreflectance has been used to study the electronic properties of (100) GaAs surfaces exposed to a Cl-2/Ar plasma generated by an electron cyclotron resonance source and subsequently passivated by P2S5. The plasma etch shifts the Fermi level of p-GaAs from near the valence band to midgap. but has no effect on n-GaAs. For ion energies below 250 eV, post-etch P2S5 chemical passivation removes the surface etch damage and restores the electronic properties to pre-etch conditions. Above 250 eV, the etch produces subsurface defects which cannot be chemically passivated. Auger electron spectroscopy shows that etching increases As at the GaAs/oxide interface, while passivation reduces it. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.