Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School
 of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the
 Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science

 INFLUENCE OF GOLD PARTICLES ON GALLIUM ARSENIDE SUBSTRATE
 WHEN ETCHED IN CHLORINE PLASMA

 By

 Erika Courtney Lent

 May 2005

Chair: Claudia Milz
Major Department: Materials Science and Engineering

 Gallium arsenide is a valuable semiconductor material used in many applications

including microelectronic devices, optoelectronics, and integrated circuits. The desire to

continuously improve upon the current applications and generate new and innovative

applications necessitates advancements in the processing techniques. One key step in the

processing technique is the development of the features through plasma etching. As the

feature sizes become smaller, precision in the formation of the features becomes more

critical. Chlorine-based plasmas are the most commonly used to dry etch gallium

arsenide wafers during device manufacturing primarily because of the volatility of the

chlorides that are formed by the reaction. There has been some thought that gold may be

used as a catalyst to enhance the etching process.

 A sample was prepared with gold stars on a gallium arsenide substrate and then

etched in chlorine/argon plasma. Electron beam lithography was used to create the