Method of epitaxially growing semiconductors on a highly lattice mismatched substrate by melting a buffer layer

摘要

A method of growing a strain free semiconductor layer (4) involves epitaxially growing buffer layer (2) on substrate (1), epitaxially growing protective layer (3) on buffer layer (2), and epitaxially growing semiconductor layer (4) on protective layer (3) at a temperature above the melting point of buffer layer (2), but below the melting point of protective layer (3). The buffer layer (2) and protective layer (3) may have a thickness between 5 and 500 Ñ, and the semiconductor layer (4) has a greater thickness than these layers, enabling the protective layer (3) to act as a compliant substrate. The semiconductor layer (4) may be a group III-nitride with the substrate (1) being sapphire or SiC, or the semiconductor layer (4) may be a diamond film, with the substrate (1) being sapphire, Si or SiC. The solid-liquid phase transition of buffer layer (2) therefore enables growth of strain free epitaxial layers on highly mismatched substrates.