ORGANOARSINE REPLACEMENTS FOR ARSINE IN MOCVD

ORGANOMETALLIC VAPOR PHASE EPITAXY (OMVPE) IS A PROMISING TECHNIQUE FOR PRODUCING ULTRAHIGH PURITY III-V COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTOR. OMVPE CAN PRODUCE COMPLEX LAYERED STRUCTURES WITH THE ABRUPT INTERFACES REQUIRED FOR ADVANCED ELECTRONIC AND PHOTONIC DEVICES. UNFORTUNATELY, OMVPE CURRENTLY REQUIRES EXTREMELY TOXIC AND/OR PYROPHORIC GASES STORED UNDER PRESSURE IN LARGE VOLUMES. THESE GASES REPRESENT SERIOUS THREATS TO SAFETY IN THE WORKPLACE BECAUSE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF WIDESPREAD DISCHARGE OF THE GASES ANS SUBSEQUENT HUMAN EXPOSURE. RECENTLY WE HAVE SHOWN THAT ARSINE FROM AN ON-DEMAND ARSINE GENERATOR YIELDS GAAS AND INGAAS OF QUALITY COMPARABLE TO OR BETTER THAN IS OBTAINED WITH ULTRAHIGH PURITY TANK ARSINE. THE GENERATOR IMPROVES SAFETY BY ELIMINATING LARGE ARSINE INVENTORIES AND PROVIDING A LOW PRESSURE SOURCES. ARSINE IS GENERATOR "JUST-IN-TIME" BY ADDING A LIQUID ACTIVATOR TO A SOLID PRESURSOR AND IS DELIVERED TO THE OMVPE SYSTEM THROUGH A UNIQUE PURIFICATION AND GAS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. IN PHASE I WE WILL DEMONSTRATE THAT THE ARSINE GENERATION TECHNOLOGY WILL BE DEVELOPED THAT CAN BE USED IN THE CURRENT GENERATOR HARDWARE. THE NEW PHOSPHINE PRECURSOR WILL BE CONVERTED TO PHOSPHINE, WHICH WILL THEN BE PURIFIED, CHEMICALLY ANALYZED AND EVALUATED AS A SOURCE MATERIAL FOR OMPE OF INP AND INGAASP.