Electrochemical etching strategy for shaping monolithic 3D structures from 4H-SiC wafers

Abstract

Silicon Carbide (SiC) is an outstanding material, not only for electronic applications, but also for projected functionalities in the realm of photonic quantum technologies, nano-mechanical resonators and photonics on-a-chip. For shaping 3D structures out of SiC wafers, predominantly dry-etching techniques are used. SiC is nearly inert with respect to wet-etching, occasionally photoelectrochemical etching strategies have been applied. Here, we propose an electrochemical etching strategy that solely relies on defining etchable volumina by implantation of p-dopands. Together with the inertness of the n-doped regions, very sharp etching contrasts can be achieved. We present devices as different as monolithic cantilevers, disk-shaped optical resonators and membranes etched out of a single crystal wafer. The high quality of the resulting surfaces can even be enhanced by thermal treatment, with shape-stable devices up to and even beyond 1550{\deg}C. The versatility of our approach paves the way for new functionalities on SiC as high-performance multi-functional wafer platform.