<p>Dry etching is an important technique for pattern transferin fabrication of most opto-electronic devices, since it canprovide good control of both structure size and shape even on asub-micron scale. Unfortunately, this process step may causedamage to the material which is detrimental to deviceperformance. It is therefore an objective of this thesis todevelop and investigate low damage etching processes for InPbased devices.</p><p>An ion beam system in combination with hydrocarbon (CH₄) based chemistries is used for etching. At variousion energies and gas flows the etching is performed in twomodes, reactive ion beam etching (RIBE) and chemical assistedion beam etching (CAIBE). How these conditions affect both etchcharacteristics (e.g. etch rates and profiles, surfacemorphology and polymer formation) and etch induced damage (onoptical and electrical properties) is evaluated and discussed.Attention is also paid to the effects of typical post etchingtreatments such as annealing on the optical and electricalproperties. An important finding is the correlation betweenas-etched surface morphology and recovery/degradation inphotoluminescence upon annealing in PH₃. Since this type of atmosphere is typical forcrystal regrowth (an important process step in III/Vprocessing) a positive result is imperative. A low ion energy N₂/CH₄/H₂CAIBE process is developed which not onlysatisfies this criteria but also exhibits good etchcharacteristics. This process is used successfully in thefabrication of laser gratings. In addition to this, the abilityof the ion beam system to modify the surface morphology in acontrollable manner is exploited. By exposing such modifiedsurfaces to AsH₃/PH₃, a new way to vary size and density of InAs(P)islands formed on the InP surfaces by the As/P exchangereaction is presented.</p><p>This thesis also proposes a new etch chemistry, namelytrimethylamine ((CH₃)₃N or TMA), which is a more efficient methyl sourcecompared to CH₄because of the low energy required to break the H₃C-N bond. Since methyl radicals are needed for theetching it is presumably a better etching chemistry. A similarinvestigation as for the CH₄chemistry is performed, and it is found that bothin terms of etch characteristics and etch induced damage thisnew chemistry is superior. Extremely smooth morphologies, lowetch induced damage and an almost complete recovery uponannealing can be obtained with this process. Significantly,this is also so at relatively high ion energies which allowshigher etch rates.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>InP, dry etching, ion beam etching, RIBE,CAIBE, hydrocarbon chemistry, trimethylamine, As/P exchangereaction, morpholoy, low damage, AFM, SCM, annealing</p>

Une voie originale de recyclage des films de PET / PVDC est proposée par leur transformation chimique avec des alcoxydes de titane par procédé d'extrusion réactive à l'état solide. Les réactions d'échanges entre ces composés organo-métalliques et le PET ont été mises en oeuvre à des températures entre 250 et 280° C à l'échelle du laboratoire et ont permis de segmenter les chaînes de PET, en de petits oligomères avec des températures de fusion basses, sur des temps de réaction très courts de l'ordre de quelques minutes. Ces oligomères peuvent être post-fonctionnalisés avec des diols. Le transfert technologique de ces réactions d'échange à l'échelle de l'extrudeuse bi-vis pilote a été optimisé afin de permettre la transformation des films de PET / PVDC à des températures comprises entre 160 et 180 °C pour ne pas dégrader le PVDC. Les alcoxydes de titane permettent de stabiliser les dégagements d'acide chlorhydrique (HCl) lors de la dégradation thermique de ce polymère halogéné. La revalorisation de ces oligomères dans différents systèmes polyuréthanes a ensuite été étudiée et a démontré la compatibilité des oligomères de PET avec ces matrices avec l'amélioration de certaines propriétés physiques et mécaniques / An original way for recycling PET / PVDC films is proposed by their chemical transformation with titanium alkoxydes by reactive extrusion process in the solid state. The exchange reactions between these organo-metallic species and the PET were carried out at temperatures between 250 and 280°C at laboratory scale and they have allowed to shorten the PET's chains, in short oligomers with low melting temperatures, in a range of reaction time of few minutes. These oligomers could be post-functionalized with diols. The technologic transfert of these exchange reactions to the twin screw extruder scale was optimized in order to transform PET / PVDC films at temperatures between 130 and 180°c without degrading the PVDC. The titanium alkoxydes allow to stabilize the release of hydrochloric acid (HCl) during thermal degradation of this halogenated polymer. The reuse of these oligomers into different polyurethane systems were then studied and demonstrated the compatibility of PET oligomers with these matrix with improvements of some physical and mechanical properties

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