Atomic beam epitaxy

Epitaxial crystal growth methods such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) have advanced to the point that active regions of essentially arbitrary thicknesses can be prepared (see Thin films, film deposition techniques). Most semiconductors used for lasers are cubic crystals where the lattice constant, the dimension of the cube, is equal to two atomic plane distances. When the thickness of this layer is reduced to dimensions on the order of 0.01 )J.m, between 20 and 30 atomic plane distances, quantum mechanics is needed for an accurate description of the confined carrier energies (11). Such layers are called quantum wells and the lasers containing such layers in their active regions are known as quantum well lasers (12). 

Physics and chemistry researchers approach III—V synthesis and epitaxial growth, ie, growth in perfect registry with the atoms of an underlying crystal, differently. The physics approach, known as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), is essentially the evaporation (14—16) of the elements, as illustrated in Figure 4. The chemistry approach, organometaUic chemical vapor deposition (OMCVD) (17) is exemplified by the typical chemical reaction ... 

The foregoing paragraphs make it elear why the making and eharacterizing of films with thiekness of the order of a nanometre (only 4-5 atoms thiek) has heeome a major researeh field in its own right in reeent deeades. Moleeular beam epitaxy, whieh we met earlier in this ehapter, is one eommon teehnique. 

We have so far assumed that the atoms deposited from the vapor phase or from dilute solution strike randomly and balHstically on the crystal surface. However, the material to be crystallized would normally be transported through another medium. Even if this is achieved by hydrodynamic convection, it must nevertheless overcome the last displacement for incorporation by a random diffusion process. Therefore, diffusion of material (as well as of heat) is the most important transport mechanism during crystal growth. An exception, to some extent, is molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) (see [3,12-14] and [15-19]) where the atoms may arrive non-thermalized at supersonic speeds on the crystal surface. But again, after their deposition, surface diffusion then comes into play. 

An important method for producing semiconductor layers is the so-called molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) (see [3,12-14] and [15-19]). Here, atoms of the same or of a different material are deposited from the vapor source onto a faceted crystal surface. The system is always far from thermal equilibrium because the deposition rate is very high. Note that in this case, in principle, every little detail of the experimental setup may influence the results. 

Chemical vapor deposition may be defined as the deposition of a solid on a heated surface from a chemical reaction in the vapor phase. It belongs to the class of vapor-transfer processes which is atomistic in nature, that is the deposition species are atoms or molecules or a combination ofthese. Beside CVD, they include various physical-vapor-deposition processes (PVD) such as evaporation, sputtering, molecular-beam epitaxy, and ion plating. 

MBE growth of very thin layer of boron and silicon. The problems associated with boron implant and laser anneal can be overcome by growing a very thin (5 nm) layer of silicon with boron atoms on the backside of the thinned CCD (1% boron, 99% silicon). The growth is applied by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) machines. This process was developed by JPL and MIT/LL. 

In molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), the constituent elements of the desired film in the form of molecular beams are deposited epitaxially onto a heated crystalline substrate. These molecular beams are typically from thermally evaporated elemental sources (e.g., evaporation of elemental As produces molecules of As2, As3, and As4). A refinement of this is atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) (also known as atomic layer deposition, ALD) in which the substrate is exposed alternately to two... 

The deposition of a wide range of materials using beams of elemental sources in high-vacuum apparatus (10-4—10-8 torr), essentially by physical methods, is known as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)8 12 and atomic layer epitaxy (ALE). These methods will be mentioned where there is an overlap with CVD techniques, but will not be fully reviewed. (They are mentioned also in Chapter 9.15). 

The primary methodologies for forming thin-film materials with atomic level control are molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) [4-9], vapor phase epitaxy (VPE) [10-12], and a number of derivative vacuum based techniques [13]. These methods depend on controlling the flux of reactants and the temperature of the substrate and reactants. 

Much of the theory of scaling analysis was developed for molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and there are some challenges in transferring the treatment to electrodeposition. In MBE, the incident atoms originate at a source at high temperature, arrive at the growth front from a vapor phase that is not in internal equilibrium, attach... 

Chemical Vapor Deposition Electrochemical Deposition Molecular Beam Epitaxy Atomic Layer Deposition Thermal Oxidation Spin Coating... 

Despite the potential for atomic-scale manipulation of interfaces displayed by molecular-beam epitaxial growth, a majority of the vapor-phase growth of silicon is accomplished by the reaction of silane with silicon substrates This... 

Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is an expensive yet widely used technique for producing epitaxial layers of metals, insulators and III-V and II-VI based semiconductors, both at the research and the industrial production level (Herman, 1996). It consists of deposition of molecular beams of atoms or clusters of atoms, which are produced by heating up a solid source, onto a heated crystalline substrate in ultra-high vacuum. MBE is characterized by low growth temperatures and low growth rates and thus enables producing high-precision epitaxial structures with monolayer... 

Quantum dots are the engineered counterparts to inorganic materials such as groups IV, III-V and II-VI semiconductors. These structures are prepared by complex techniques such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), lithography or self-assembly, much more complex than the conventional chemical synthesis. Quantum dots are usually termed artificial atoms (OD) with dimensions larger than 20-30 nm, limited by the preparation techniques. Quantum confinement, single electron transport. Coulomb blockade and related quantum effects are revealed with these OD structures (Smith, 1996). 2D arrays of such OD artificial atoms can be achieved leading to artificial periodic structures. 

There are numerous materials, both metallic and ceramic, that are produced via CVD processes, including some exciting new applications such as CVD diamond, but they all involve deposition on some substrate, making them fundamentally composite materials. There are equally numerous modifications to the basic CVD processes, leading to such exotic-sounding processes as vapor-phase epitaxy (VPE), atomic-layer epitaxy (ALE), chemical-beam epitaxy (CBE), plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD), laser-assisted CVD (LACVD), and metal-organic compound CVD (MOCVD). We will discuss the specifics of CVD processing equipment and more CVD materials in Chapter 7. 

There are different criterion of how to classify solid-solid interfaces. One is the sharpness of the boundary. It could be abrupt on an atomic scale as, for example, in III-IV semiconductor heterostructures prepared by molecular beam epitaxy. In contrast, interdiffusion can create broad transitions. Surface reactions can lead to the formation of a thin layer of a new compound. The interfacial structure and composition will therefore depend on temperature, diffusion coefficient, miscibility, and reactivity of the components. Another criterion is the crystallinity of the interface. The interface may be crystalline-crystalline, crystalline-amorphous, or completely amorphous. Even when both solids are crystalline, the interface may be disturbed and exhibit a high density of defects. 

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