Determination of the etching mechanism in MgS and ZnMgSSe epitaxial lift-off layers

During epitaxial lift-off of II-VI semiconductors a sacrificial layer of MgS is dissolved by acid. Here we show that the etching speed of this process varies inversely as the square root of the layer thickness, following a model developed previously for III-Vlift-off where the rate limiting step in both cases is transport of insoluble product gases from the etching layer. We also propose a model to explain why sacrificial layer etching fails when strong cohesive forces resist the lifting of the epilayer. This occurs when the sacrificial layer is too thin or when it contains more than a critical amount of an insoluble component, cohesion arising from dispersion forces or chains of insoluble atoms, respectively. © 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.