SELECTIVE EPITAXY OF III-V COMPOUNDS BY LOW-TEMPERATURE HYDRIDE VPE

In this paper we report on the selective epitaxy of InP, GaAs, and InGaAs accomplished in a double-barrel hydride vapor-phase epitaxy (VPE) reactor, using Si3N4 films as the pattern-defining masks. All growths were done at temperatures as low as 482°-570°C and with reactant concentrations about 10X lower than in usual hydride VPE processes. Some of the experiments were done using separated Group III and Group V reactant streams to attempt atomic layer epitaxy growths. We also discuss room-temperature plasma etching with mixtures of CH4 and H2 and the regrowth of InP in the etched features. Completely selective, morphologically smooth regrowth was demonstrated at temperatures below 570°C and with low reactant concentrations. The above techniques could lead to novel processing procedures for a variety of devices, e.g., optoelectronic integrated circuits, optical waveguides, 2- and 3-dimensional quantum structures, etc. copyright. © 1990, The Electrochemical Society, Inc. All rights reserved.