Real-time diagnostics for metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy

Metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy is a complicated process whereby constituents of incoming reactant species are incorporated into the growing crystal through a number of stages. A range of optical probes has been developed to provide detailed information about these stages and the sample as growth proceeds. While many of these probes are mature, spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and polarimetry (SP) are both undergoing rapid improvements as a result of applications in integrated-circuits technology. Here, I review some of these advances and the motivation behind them, and illustrate capabilities with an application regarding the heteroepitaxial growth of GaSb on GaAs.