Fabrication and Time-Dependent Analysis of Micro-Hole in GaAs(100) Single Crystal Wafer Using Wet Chemical Etching Method

Surface plasmon resonance is the resonant oscillation of conduction electrons at the interface between negative and positive permittivity material stimulated by incident light. In particular, when light transmits through the metallic microhole structures, it shows an increased intensity of light. Thus, it is used to increase the efficiency of devices such as LEDs, solar cells, and sensors. There are various methods to make micro-hole structures. In this experiment, micro holes are formed using a wet chemical etching method, which is inexpensive and can be mass processed. The shape of the holes depends on crystal facets, temperature, the concentration of the etchant solution, and etching time. We select a GaAs(100) single crystal wafer in this experiment and satisfactory results are obtained under the ratio of etchant solution with H2SO4:H2O2:H2O = 1: 5: 5. The morphology of micro holes according to the temperature and time is observed using field emission - scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The etching mechanism at the corners and sidewalls is explained through the configuration of atoms.