Innovative Polishing Technology for Fabrication of High Performance Epi-ready GaSb Substrates

Antimony containing III-V semiconducting compounds are particularly attractive for the fabrication of a wide variety of electronic and optoelectronic devices such as photo detectors operating in the long wave infrared wavelength (12-32µm) range. The production of epi quality GaSb wafers still remains one of the important problems for rapid commercialization of GaSb devices. In Phase I effort, we successfully demonstrated a polishing process to significantly reduce surface roughness (<2), eliminate sub-surface damage and form a passivated GaSb surface. In Phase II of this project we plan to further develop and optimize our polishing and passivation process for low cost, reliable fabrication of ultra-smooth (<2 roughness), sub-surface damage-free, low TTV large size (upto 6") GaSb substrates. Epi-ready GaSb substrate will significantly improve the performance of long wave infrared detectors and other devices.