Characterization of high-purity arsine and gallium arsenide epilayers grown by MOCVD

AlGaAs/GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells as a sensitive tool for the MOVPE reactor environment

“…Typical examples include growing thick GaAs [8] or AlGaAs layers [9,10] and a subsequent analysis of the intensity of their optical properties. Previous works focused on the emission properties of low temperature near band edge, where donors and acceptors features can often be recognized.…”

“…Despite the general necessity of employing sources with lower impurity levels [8], a profound analysis on the real impact that modern purification processes have on the optical (and transport) properties of III-V compounds and devices is still lacking.…”

Analysis of trace impurities in semiconductor gas via cavity-enhanced direct frequency comb spectroscopy

“…Arsine (AsH 3 ) and phosphine (PH 3 ) are important process gases used in the production of III-V semiconductors via metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) [1][2][3][4]. These compounds are used in devices ranging from high-brightness light emitting diodes and high power laser diodes to solar cells.…”

“…In particular, oxygen incorporation in III-V semiconductors has been shown to form a deep recombination level, resulting in a decrease of photoluminescence efficiency and carrier lifetimes as well as reduced device reliability. A primary source of oxygen impurities is the presence of traces of water vapor in the precursor gases, which has been shown to negatively impact the semiconductor at the level of 10-100 parts per billion (ppb) [4]. Because of its ubiquity and low vapor pressure, water is extremely difficult for the manufacturer to completely remove.…”

“…Thus, multiple contaminants cannot be easily identified and quantified, while unexpected impurities can significantly degrade the reliability of the measurement. In a recent study [4], it was necessary to use gas chromatography with mass spectrometry, atomic emission spectroscopy, and pulsed discharge ionization detection in addition to CRDS, to check for all of the critical impurities in arsine. Cavity-enhanced direct frequency comb spectroscopy (CE-DFCS) [8,9] provides both high sensitivity and broad bandwidth, which enabled multi-species trace detection in breath near 1.5 µm [10].…”