Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Spectroscopie ellipsometry has been used to monitor optical characteristics of HgCdTe surfaces during plasma etching in an electron cyclotron resonance reactor. Commonly used process conditions were found to induce changes in the ellipsometric parameters Δ and φ. A model was constructed to account for these changes in terms of process-induced roughness and mercury depleted sub-surface layers An independent characterization of the near-surface region was earned out ex situ after etching using Auger spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Plasma process parameters were varied to isolate their influence on surface conditions and a set of parameters is given for which changes are minimized.