Plasma separation of InGaAsP/InP light-emitting diodes

Abstract
The application of plasma etching to the separation of InP/InGaAsP light‐emitting diodes (LED’s) is reported. Device wafers (75 μm thick) were separated by fast (0.6 μm/min) anisotropic (2:1) etching in a CCl4/O2 plasma at 300 °C. The LED’s showed significant improvements in their reverse leakage currents over similar devices separated by conventional mechanical means. We find the separation‐induced mechanical damage to be significant for conventional techniques causing both performance and yield loss. In contrast, the etched surfaces were free of mechanical damage resulting in a 100% yield of separated devices.