While wet etching has been replaced by dry etching when vertical profiles are essential, there remain many cases where wet etching remains useful. The electronic quality of the surface is superior to that of dry-etched surfaces, and the higher degree of compositional selectivity than generally available with dry processes will continue to make wet etching the process of choice for many applications.

Inspec keywords: photolithography; gallium arsenide; III-V semiconductors; sputter etching

Other keywords: dry-etched surfaces; wet etching; photolithography; dry etching; GaAs; electronic surface quality; vertical profiles

Subjects: Surface treatment and degradation in semiconductor technology