Wet and Dry Etching of LiGaO2 and LiAlO2.

LiGaO{sub 2} and LiAlO{sub 2} have similar lattice constants to GaN, and may prove useful as substrates for III-nitride epitaxy. The authors have found that these materials may be wet chemically etched in some acid solutions, including HF, at rates between 150 and 4,000 {angstrom}/min. Dry etching with SF{sub 6}/Ar plasmas provides faster rates than Cl{sub 2}/Ar or CH{sub 4}H{sub 2}/Ar under electron cyclotron resonance conditions, indicating the fluoride etch products are more volatile than their chloride or metallorganic/hydride counterparts.