Epitaxial Crystal Growth: Methods and Materials

Abstract

Epitaxial growth of thin films of material for a wide range of applications in electronics, optoelectronics, and magneto-optics is a critical activity in many industries. The original technique, in most instances, was liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) as this was the simplest and often the cheapest route to producing device-quality layers. While some production processes are still based on LPE, most of the research activities and, increasingly, much of the production of electronic and optoelectronic devices is now centered on metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). These latter techniques are more versatile, although the equipment is more expensive, and can readily produce multilayer structures with atomic-layer control, which is becoming more and more fundamental to the nanoscale engineering being called upon now to produce device structures in as-grown multilayers. This chapter covers these three basic techniques, including some of their more common variants, and outlines the relative advantages and disadvantages of each of them. Some examples of growth in various materials systems of importance are also outlined for each of the three techniques.

Direct solvent free synthesis of bare α-NiS, β-NiS and α-β-NiS composite as excellent electrocatalysts: Effect of self-capping on supercapacitance and overall water splitting activity

“…This superior performance of NISE-2 can be attributed to the existence of both the α-NiS, and β-NiS phases in a single system. It is known that, for a mixed phase system, the crystal lattice mismatch, resulting from the two different crystal structures, prevents the growth of a defect-free material 27,69,70 . In some cases, this has been demonstrated to have an impact on the electrochemical properties of the material.…”

Hot-wall MOCVD of N-polar group-III nitride materials

“…Surface configuration, substrate orientation, precursor concentration, gas flow speed together with the process pressure play important roles for different aspects in the growth process. The epitaxial growth rate in MOCVD is mainly influenced by the process temperature which can be divided into three different temperature regimes [78,79]. At low temperature, the reaction rates limit the growth rate, termed the kinetic limited growth.…”

“…At high temperature, the growth rate decreases with increasing temperature as the material deposition rate is similar to the desorption rate because of the rising equilibrium vapor pressure of constituent elements in the epitaxial film. There are several key processes during MOCVD epitaxy illustrated in Figure 1.7 [78][79][80][81]. Precursors are transported from laminar gas flow to the substrates surface through the boundary layer.…”

Simulation of the Inversion of the Aluminum Profile Gradient at Liquid Phase Epitaxy of GaAl(P, As, Sb) Heterostructures

“…Хотя в последние годы получили распространение также и иные методы получения полупроводниковых гетероструктур, такие как молекулярнолучевая эпитаксия или осаждение металлорганических соединений из газовой фазы, жидкофазная эпитаксия (ЖФЭ) остается популярным методом получения III-V полупроводниковых пленок [5]- [13], и в этом смысле исследование явления, общего для целой группы материалов, представляет несомненный интерес.…”

“…При любой температуре между ними сохраняется постоянное соотношение: (8), а также инверсная кривая, рассчитанная по (13), (14).…”