Reactive ion etching of high optical quality GaN∕sapphire photonic crystal slab using CH4–H2 chemistry

Reactive ion etching (RIE) using a CH4–H2 plasma is investigated for the fabrication of a GaN one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal (PhC) slab. The dominant control parameter for the etch rate and the sidewall profile is the dc bias. The influence of operating pressure, CH4∕H2 ratio, and total gas flow rate on the etching characteristics is also presented. An etch rate as high as 85nm∕min and an overcut angle as low as 5° obtained in this work are among the best values reported for conventional RIE technique. The CH4–H2 process is used to etch 1D PhCs with a lattice parameter ranging from 700to350nm and an air filling factor of 0.30 into a 600‐nm-thick GaN∕sapphire slab. Sharp peaks corresponding to the resonant modes of the nanopatterned structures are observed in the experimental reflection spectra for all the lattice periods. Furthermore, the good optical quality of the nanostructures is evidenced by a resonantly enhanced second-harmonic generation experiment around 400nm. A second-harmonic generation ...

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