CVD IN OPTOELECTRONICS

Optoelectronics is a discipline which combines optics and electronics. It deals with optical wavelengths from 0.20 im (ultraviolet) to 3 im (near infrared) as shown in Fig. 15.1. The properties of optoelectronic materials are a useful combination of electrical and semiconductor properties (electron action), with optical properties such as transmission, reflection, and absorption (phonon action). 

Optoelectronics is a relatively new and fast-growing industry with many applications. Thin-film processes, such as reactive sputtering, molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE), and particularly MOCVD, play a major part in their production. Equipment and materials are similar to those used in the semiconductor industry and many companies manufacture both types of products. In fact the distinction between the two areas is often blurred. Statistics generally do not single out optoelectronics as such and, for that reason, it is difficult to define the scope of the industry accurately. 

The critical properties for optoelectronic materials are bandgap (operating range), carrier lifetime (efficiency), and resistivity (response time). To optimize these properties, it is necessary to have control of the process parameters such as  

Silicon is not as prominent a material in optoelectronics as it is in purely electronic applications, since its optical properties are limited. Yet it finds use as a photodetector with a response time in the nanosecond range and a spectral response band from 0.4 to 1.1 im, which matches the 0.905 im photoemission line of gallium arsenide. Silicon is transparent beyond 1.1 im and experiments have shown that a red light can be produced by shining an unfocused green laser beam on a specially prepared ultrathin crystal-silicon slice.CVD may prove useful in preparing such a material. 

The m-V and II-VI semiconductor compounds have excellent optical properties and are the most important group of optoelectronic materials, which are all produced by CVD for many optoelectronic applications. The properties of these materials and their CVD reactions are reviewed in Ch. 12, Secs. 3.0 and 4.0 and Ch. 13, Sec. 6.0. It is possible to tailor the bandgap, by the proper combination of these materials, to suit any given application (See Fig. 13.2 of Ch. 13). 

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