Fabrication technologies for III-V compound semiconductor photonic and electronic devices

This paper describes process technologies for fabricating III-V photonic and high-speed electronic devices. The major processes involved are contact metallization, dielectric film deposition, wet and dry etching, diffusion, implantation, photolithography, wafer separation, and die bonding. For the photonic devices, the emphasis is on those long-wavelength devices that are fabricated with the InP/InGaAsP material system. In contrast, for the high-speed electronic devices, we discuss the fabrication of field-effect transistors with the GaAs/AlGaAs system. We present representative examples in detail and, where possible, identify commonalities and contrasts in their processing and in the process criticality. We review specific constraints that determine the processing technique, and give examples of how processing influences device performance and reliability. Finally, we assess the current trends in process development that are relevant to III-V device fabrication.