Effect of Refresh Time on XeF Gas-assisted FIB Milling of GaAs

Focused ion beam (FIB) machining can be used to fabricate gallium arsenide-based devices, which have a surface finish of several nanometers, and the FIB machining speed and surface finish can be greatly improved using xenon difluoride (XeF) gas-assisted etching. Although the refresh time is one of the most important parameters in the gas-assisted etching process, its effect on the machining quality of the surface finish has rarely been studied. Therefore, in this work, we investigated the effect of the refresh time on the etching process, including the dissociation process of XeF, the refresh time dependency of the sputter in yield under different incident angles, and the surface finish under different refresh times. The results revealed that a selective etching mechanism occurred at different refresh times. At an incidence angle of 0°, the sputtering yield increased with the refresh time and reached its maximum value at 500 ms; at an incidence angle of 30°, the sputtering yield reached its minimum value at a refresh time of 500 ms. For surface roughness, the incident angle played a more important role than the refresh time. The surface finish was slightly better at an incidence angle of 30° than at 0°. In addition, both F and Xe elements were detected in the processed area: Xe elements were evenly distributed throughout the processing area, while F elements tended to accumulate in the whole processing area. The results suggest that the optimum surface can be obtained when a larger refresh time is employed.