A novel planarization technique for optoelectronic integrated circuits and its application to a monolithic AlGaAs/GaAs p-i-n FET

A new planarization technique for use in fabricating optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEIC's) has been developed. The conditions of substrate preparation and ion-beam etching to obtain a perfectly planar, embedded structure have been analyzed in detail. This process has been successfully applied to monolithically integrate an AlGaAs/GaAs p-i-n FET photoreceiver. These results indicate that this planarization technique is useful for fabricating OEIC's including large-scale integrated receivers and transmitters.