Molecular beam epitaxy deposition

THERMAL OXIDATION OF MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXIAL DEPOSITED Sn NANOISLANDS... 

In practical applications, gas-surface etching reactions are carried out in plasma reactors over the approximate pressure range 10 -1 Torr, and deposition reactions are carried out by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV below 10 Torr) or by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) in the approximate range 10 -10 Torr. These applied processes can be quite complex, and key individual reaction rate constants are needed as input for modelling and simulation studies—and ultimately for optimization—of the overall processes. 

Molecular beam epitaxy is a non-CVD epitaxial process that deposits silicon through evaporation. MBE is becoming more common as commercial equipment becomes available. In essence, silicon is heated to moderate temperature by an electron beam in a high vacuum... 

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). 

The epitaxy reactor is a specialized variant of the tubular reactor in which gas-phase precursors are produced and transported to a heated surface where thin crystalline films and gaseous by-products are produced by further reaction on the surface. Similar to this chemical vapor deposition (CVE)) are physical vapor depositions (PVE)) and molecular beam generated deposits. Reactor details are critical to assuring uniform, impurity-free deposits and numerous designs have evolved (Fig. 22) (89). 

Electrical Properties. Generally, deposited thin films have an electrical resistivity that is higher than that of the bulk material. This is often the result of the lower density and high surface-to-volume ratio in the film. In semiconductor films, the electron mobiHty and lifetime can be affected by the point defect concentration, which also affects electromigration. These effects are eliminated by depositing the film at low rates, high temperatures, and under very controUed conditions, such as are found in molecular beam epitaxy and vapor-phase epitaxy. 

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 ... 

Fig. 4. Schematic of an ultrahigh vacuum molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth chamber, showing the source ovens from which the Group 111—V elements are evaporated the shutters corresponding to the required elements, such as that ia front of Source 1, which control the composition of the grown layer an electron gun which produces a beam for reflection high energy electron diffraction (rheed) and monitors the crystal stmcture of the growing layer and the substrate holder which rotates to provide more uniformity ia the deposited film. After Ref. 14, see text.

Recent applications of e-beam and HF-plasma SNMS have been published in the following areas aerosol particles [3.77], X-ray mirrors [3.78, 3.79], ceramics and hard coatings [3.80-3.84], glasses [3.85], interface reactions [3.86], ion implantations [3.87], molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) layers [3.88], multilayer systems [3.89], ohmic contacts [3.90], organic additives [3.91], perovskite-type and superconducting layers [3.92], steel [3.93, 3.94], surface deposition [3.95], sub-surface diffusion [3.96], sensors [3.97-3.99], soil [3.100], and thermal barrier coatings [3.101]. 

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. 

Another evaporation technique is molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). MBE produces extremely pure and very thin films with abrupt composition changes and is being considered for extremely exacting electronic and optoelectronic applications. PI However, the deposition rate is very slow and the process is still considered experimental. 

Electrocatalytic activity of supported metal particles has been investigated on surfaces prepared in an ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) molecular beam epitaxy system (DCA Instruments) modified to allow high throughput (parallel) synthesis of thin-film materials [Guerin and Hayden, 2006]. The system is shown in Fig. 16.1, and consisted of two physical vapor deposition (PVD) chambers, a sputtering chamber, and a surface characterization chamber (CC), all interconnected by a transfer chamber (TC). The entire system was maintained at UHV, with a base pressure of 10 °mbar. Sample access was achieved through a load lock, and samples could be transferred... 

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). 

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

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