Thermal stability of dry etch damage in SiC

The introduction of dry etch damage into n-type SiC has been measured by monitoring the sheet resistance after exposure to Ar plasmas under both reactive ion etching and electron cyclotron resonance conditions. The threshold rf powers for measurable resistance changes in 1 mu m thick films are similar to 250 W for reactive ion etching (RIE) conditions, and similar to 150 W for electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) conditions. A major annealing stage occurs with an activation energy of similar to 3.4 eV, but some damage remains even after 1050 degrees C annealing. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.