THE RADIAL FLOW PLANETARY REACTOR - LOW-PRESSURE VERSUS ATMOSPHERIC-PRESSURE MOVPE

A comparison between MOVPE of III-V compounds with the radial flow planetary reactor at atmospheric pressure and at reduced pressure has been carried out by numerical simulation and experimentally. The behavior of the reactor at low pressure was found to be very similar to that at atmospheric pressure. The obtained layer thickness uniformity was also +/- 1% at pressures of 100 mbar and 200 mbar. Moreover, the uniformity was found to be almost independent of total mass flow, over the range of 10 to 43 SLM. The first growth on five 3 inch diameter wafers at atmospheric pressure is reported. Optimization of the inlet section led to simultaneous uniformities of approximately 1% in layer thickness and sheet resistance. The first GaAs-(Ga,Al)As lasers grown with this reactor at 200 mbar are reported, with a threshold current density of 400 A/cm2. The first GaAs-(Ga,In)As-(Ga,Al)As pseudomorphic HEMT material grown with this reactor at atmospheric pressure with 22% indium in the channel layer yielded devices with an average maximum transconductance of 383 mS/mm and unity current gain cut-off frequency of 64.5 GHz for a gate length of 0.25-mu-m.