Numerical Investigation of Pulsed Chemical Vapor Deposition of Aluminum Nitride
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Date
2010-03
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
The Metal Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy (MOVPE) of Aluminum Nitride (AlN) results not only in the growth of an AlN thin film, but also in the growth of AlN particles suspended in the gas-phase. Particle formation of AlN is unique to the MOVPE of AlN because the bond strength of AlN (11.5eV) is much larger than that of other III-V materials. This study numerically examined the effect of pulsing the precursor gases on the MOVPE of AlN as a way to curb AlN particle formation, in both horizontal and vertical reactors. Pulsing parameters such as pulse width, pulse duration, and precursor gas flow rate were varied to see the effect on growth rate and particle formation. The numerical predictions show AlN particle formation decreases significantly as the length of carrier gas pulse width increases and the deposition rate of substrate AlN can stay at approximately the same value as the steady state value with increased precursor gas flow rates. Therefore, if pulsing is introduced with relatively large carrier gas pulse width and increased precursor gas flow rates the AlN particle formation would be minimized while keeping the growth rate more or less unaffected. Numerical results also showed that pulsing has the added benefit that it increased the average growth rate (compared to steady state growth rates) because the precursors are not wasted as particles.
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Keywords
Aluminum Nitride, MOVPE