In-situ laser reflectometry method for wet-etch endpoint detection of VCSEL structure

Abstract

We have investigated the use of in-situ laser reflectometry for etch-depth control in vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) structures. We can obtain the precise etch depth by simply counting the number of peak-to-peak during wet-etching process. After the calibration on an AlGaAs/GaAs 20 periods distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) structure, this technique was applied to the monolithic 1.55 mu m VCSEL device process required to etch epilayers of several mu m thickness. In the 1.55 mu m VCSEL structure, the mesa was generated by monitoring the number of peaks at the bottom DBR that corresponded to an etch depth of about 11 mu m. The overall spatial uniformity of the etched sample was within a layer (1000 Angstrom) by the distinction between layers. This process offers the possibility of precise control of etch depth for any multilayer structure.