Selective and nonselective wet etching of Zn0.9Mg0.1O/ZnO

Wet etch rates at 25°C for Zn0.9Mg0.1O grown on sapphire substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) were in the range 300–1100 nm · min−1 with HCl/H2O (5×10−3−2×10−2 M) and 120–300 nm · min−1 with H3PO4/H2O (5×10−3−2×10−2 M). Both of these dilute mixtures exhibited diffusion-limited etching, with thermal activation energies of 2–3 kCal · mol−1. By sharp contrast, the etch rates for ZnO also grown on sapphire by PLD were much slower in similar solutions, with rates of 1.2–50 nm · min−1 in HCl/H2O (0.01–1.2 M) and 12–54 nm · min−1 in H3PO4/H2O (0.02–0.15 M). The etching was reaction limited over the temperature range 25–75°C, with activation energies close to 6 kCal · mol−1. The resulting selectivity of Zn0.9Mg0.1O over ZnO can be a high as ∼400 with HCl and ∼30 with H3PO4.