III-V semiconductor heterojunction devices grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

Several important early developments in the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition technology relate to the demonstration of high-performance AlGaAs-GaAs injection lasers and solar cells in the late 1970s. It has been nearly 24 years since the first semiconductor injection lasers grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) were made and nearly 22 years since the first continuous-wave quantum-well injection lasers were made by this process. In this past 20-odd years, MOCVD has been developed for the production of AlGaAs, InAlGaP, InGaAsP, InAlGaN, and a variety of other compound semiconductor materials. It is now the dominant technology for the production of light-emitting diodes, injection lasers, solar cells, photodetectors, and heterojunction bipolar transistors and a variety of other solid-state devices. This paper will review some of the early developments in this technology.