Use of Flow Visualization and Tracer Gas Studies for Designing an InP/InGaAsP OMVPE (Organometallic Vapor Phase Epitaxy) Reactor

摘要

Studies of gas flow using smoke particle visualization and a tracer gas measurement technique were used to provide design information about growth tubes for organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE) of Indium Phosphide and InGaAsP alloys. It is shown that convective cells may form when a gas of a different density than that of the gas already flowing in the tube is rapidly switched into the first time, could severly degrade the material quality of InP/InGaAs and InP/InGaAsP heterojunctions. This transient convection after gas switching is particularly acute for a vertical growth tube with a large cross-sectional area such as the stagnation flow geometry operated at atmospheric pressure under ideal conditions for uniform, laminar flow. Keywords: Gallium arsenides.