Free-standing AlxGa1-xAs heterostructures by gas-phase etching of germanium

We outline a facile fabrication technique for the realization of free-standing AlxGa1-xAs heterostructures of arbitrary aluminum content. Utilizing xenon difluoride (XeF2) we rapidly and selectively remove a sacrificial germanium (Ge) underlayer in a room temperature gas-phase etching procedure. We demonstrate two possibilities for exploiting this unique process: (1) bulk micromachining of a suspended high-frequency low-dissipation micro-optomechanical resonator consisting of an epitaxial GaAs/AlAs multilayer grown on a Ge substrate and (2) epitaxial lift-off of a GaAs film via removal of an embedded Ge sacrificial layer, resulting in lateral etch rates up to 3 mm/h and a conservative selectivity of similar to 10(6). (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3455104]