Influence of plasma composition on reflectance anisotropy spectra for in situ III-V semiconductor dry-etch monitoring

Reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS) can be used to monitor (reactive) ion etching (RIE) of semiconductor samples. We present results on the influence of the Cl2 content of the plasma gas on the RAS spectra during reactive ion etching. In a first step GaAs samples have been used and the RAS spectra are compared to results of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) on sample surfaces and depth profiles. In a second step a III-V semiconductor multilayer system has been investigated using the time-evolution of the average reflected intensity as an indication for the etch rate. In both cases usually even a high amount of Cl2 does not disturb the surface-sensitivity of the RAS signal.