Heteroepitaxial Indium Phosphide on Silicon

• There is an intense interest on integration of III-V materials on silicon and silicon-on-insulator for realisation of optical interconnects, optical networking, imaging and disposable photonics for medical applications. Advances in photonic materials, structures and technologies are the main ingredients of this pursuit. We investigate nano epitaxial lateral overgrowth (NELOG) of InP material from the nano openings on a seed layer on the silicon wafer, by hydride vapour phase epitaxy (HVPE). The grown layers were analysed by cathodoluminescence (CL) in situ a scanning electron microscope, time-resolved photoluminescence (TR-PL), and atomic force microscope (AFM). The quality of the layers depends on the growth parameters such as the V/III ratio, growth temperature, and layer thickness. CL measurements reveal that the dislocation density can be as low as 2 - 3.10(7) cm(-2) for a layer thickness of similar to 6 mu m. For comparison, the seed layer had a dislocation density of similar to 1.10(9) cm(-2). Since the dislocation density estimated on theoretical grounds from TRPL measurements is of the same order of magnitude both for NELOG InP on Si and on InP substrate, the dislocation generation appears to be process related or coalescence related. Pertinent issues for improving the quality of the grown InP on silicon are avoiding damage in the openings due to plasma etching, pattern design to facilitate coalescence with minimum defects and choice of mask material compatible with InP to reduce thermal mismatch.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Den kondenserade materiens fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Condensed Matter Physics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Heteroepitaxy

InP

silicon photonics

defects

cathodoluminescence

photoluminescence

HVPE

ELOG

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)