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Scalable laser-assisted MOCVD chamber design with laser array input

Engineering & Physical Sciences
Electronics & Photonics
Instrumentation
Semiconductors, Circuits, & Electronic Components
College
College of Engineering (COE)
Researchers
Zhao, Hongping
Chen, Zhaoying
Licensing Manager
Randhawa, Davinder
614-247-7709
randhawa.40@osu.edu

T2020-199 A design of scalable laser-assisted MOCVD chamber for III-nitrides and other semiconductors with a laser array input.

The Need

III-nitrides represent an important semiconductor material system for both optoelectronic and power electronic device applications. Advantages for III-nitrides include high electron saturation velocity, high critical electric field, high radiation resistance and decent thermal performance. Therefore, III-nitrides have attracted increasing interests in device applications. The fabrication of III-nitride films are mainly relied on epitaxy technology, including metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Low cracking efficiency of NH3 is one of the key challenges for III-nitride epitaxy, the limited N species at growth interface would affect the growth properties of III-nitride materials, such as growth rate, crystalline quality, impurities incorporation, native point defects generation and etc. These effects become more severe for materials grown at relatively low temperatures such as InN and InGaN. Therefore, methods for enhancing the cracking efficiency of NH3 are strongly needed for high quality and high efficient III-nitride epitaxy in MOCVD.

The Technology

Researchers at Ohio State are working to address this need, and have disclosed a design of scalable laser-assisted MOCVD chamber for III-nitrides and other semiconductors with a laser array input. The laser beam was distributed into an array before introducing to the growth chamber in order to form a uniform distribution of laser power for cracking N precursors in the entire chamber. This apparatus can be used for single or multiple wafer growth and for single or multiple layer growth. The same concept of laser-assisted MOCVD chamber design can be applied for systems for materials growth other than III-nitrides, such as III-V, III-oxides, group V, and II-VI. Different laser excitation wavelength may be generated by using other laser system than CO2 laser. The invented scalable laser-assisted MOCVD chamber can provide a new route to achieve growth conditions that cannot reach with the conventional chamber design, especially for large scale production.

Commercial Applications

  • Semiconductors
  • Computer/Circuit Technologies

Benfits/Advantages

  • Quality
  • Large Scale Production

Research Interests

Dr. Hongping Zhao received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University in 2011 and is an Associate Professor at The Ohio State University. Dr. Zhao’s research falls under the umbrella of the growth and physics of wide bandgap (WBG) and ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductor materials and devices, and the low-dimensional semiconductor nano-materials and devices.