Fundamental models of the metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy of gallium nitride and their use in reactor design

• Published in: Journal of crystal growth Vol. 221; no. 1; pp. 622 - 628
• Main Authors: Pawlowski, R.P, Theodoropoulos, C, Salinger, A.G, Mountziaris, T.J, Moffat, H.K, Shadid, J.N, Thrush, E.J
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.12.2000; Elsevier
• Subjects: Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Gallium nitride; Kinetics; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; MOVPE; Physics; Reactor design; Theory and models of film growth; Vapor phase epitaxy; growth from vapor phase; 81.05.E; Models; 81.15.G; MOVPE; Kinetics; Reactor design; 47.70.F; 82.30.−b; Gallium nitride; Nitrides; Inorganic compounds; Semiconductor materials; Films; Epitaxial reactor; Gallium nitrides; MOVPE method; Theoretical study; Crystal growth from vapors; III-V semiconductors
• ISSN: 0022-0248; 1873-5002
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-0248(00)00789-2

A fundamental reaction-transport model describing the metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE) of GaN from trimethyl-gallium (TMG) and ammonia has been developed. This model has been tested against experimental data from research-scale and industrial-scale reactors. A simplified version of the model that includes only transport phenomena and a unity sticking coefficient of the limiting film precursor (TMG) to the surface of the growing film was found to accurately capture observed film deposition variations in an early variant of the Thomas Swan close-coupled-showerhead 3×2″ reactor. Modifications of the Thomas Swan reactor, in line with the findings suggested by this work, enabled state-of-the-art thickness uniformity to be achieved. The model has been used to develop performance diagrams for conceptual multi-aperture MOVPE reactors and for the Thomas Swan system. These performance diagrams identify regions of the parameter space of the reactor which correspond to minimal variations in film growth rate across large-area substrates.