- Reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy (RAS), which was originally invented to monitor
epitaxial growth, can—as we have previously shown—also be used to monitor the reactive ion
etching of III/V semiconductor samples in situ and in real time, as long as the etching rate is not
too high and the abrasion at the etch front is not totally chaotic. Moreover, we have proven that—
using RAS equipment and optical Fabry-Perot oscillations due to the ever-shrinking thickness of the
uppermost etched layer—the in situ etch-depth resolution can be as good as +/-0.8 nm, employing a
Vernier-scale type measurement and evaluation procedure. Nominally, this amounts to +/-1.3 lattice
constants in our exemplary material system, AlGaAsSb, on a GaAs or GaSb substrate. In this
contribution, we show that resolutions of about +/-5.6 nm can be reliably achieved without a Vernier
scale protocol by employing thin doped layers or sharp interfaces between differently doped layers
or quantum-dot (QD) layers as etch-stop indicators. These indicator layers can either be added
to the device layer design on purpose or be part of it incidentally due to the functionality of the
device. For typical etch rates in the range of 0.7 to 1.3 nm/s (that is, about 40 to 80 nm/min), the RAS
spectrum will show a distinct change even for very thin indicator layers, which allows for the precise
termination of the etch run.