The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 04, 1994
Filed:
Nov. 20, 1992
Kent D Choquette, Albuquerque, NM (US);
Robert S Freund, Livingston, NJ (US);
Minghwei Hong, Watchung, NJ (US);
Joseph P Mannaerts, Summit, NJ (US);
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
In accordance with the invention, a contaminated III-V semiconductor surface is cleaned by the sequential steps of exposure to hydrogen plasma, chemical etching in chlorine and annealing in vacuum. In a preferred embodiment, a semiconductor of the gallium arsenide family is subjected to hydrogen plasma in an ECR system for 20-120 minutes, then, without breaking vacuum, subjected to a Cl.sub.2 chemical etch at 250.degree. C.-450.degree. C. for 1-5 minutes. Again, without breaking vacuum, the semiconductor is annealed at 200.degree. C.-600.degree. C. for 5-15 minutes. To obtain good surface reconstruction, annealing preferably takes place at a temperature 300.degree. C. or above. The semiconductor surface thus processed is atomically smooth and sufficiently clean to permit regrowth of a high quality epitaxial layer.