HVPE Edition for modeling hydride vapor phase epitaxy of GaN, AlN or AlGaN alloy

The HVPE Edition is a specialty software that can be used to simulate hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) of GaN, AlN and AlGaN alloys in research-scale and industrial reactors. The tool is implemented as an add-on to the commercially available CFDACE+ package.

The hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) is a process commonly used to grow Group III nitrides. It takes place in temperature controlled environment where HCl is passed over Group III metals to form metal chlorides (GaCl, AlCl, AlCl₃,...), these gases are mixed with ammonia and epitaxial growth of desired A₃B₅ material occurs via reaction of gaseous metal chlorides with ammonia vapors, see Fig. 1.

CVDSim^TM can be effectively used to model various processes taking place in HVPE, such as:

• operation of source and conversion of Ga and Al into the metal chlorides;
• prediction of the growth rate over the wafer and, in case of ternary alloys, layer composition;
• parasitic deposition inside the reactor.

Original quasi-thermodynamic model is used to describe chemical reactions on the surface of the Ga or Al metal as well as the reactions of the epitaxial growth and parasitic deposition of GaN, AlN, and AlGaN respectively.

Optimization of the process/equipment with HVPE edition can include:

• improvement of the flow pattern and species delivery to the substrate;
• increasing the growth rate uniformity;
• reduction of parasitic deposition the reactor walls, injectors, and other parts;
• thermal management;
• increasing the average growth rate;

Application Examples

Modeling of AlN/AlGaN HVPE

Publications

"Modeling analysis of AlN and AlGaN HVPE",
A. S. Segal, D. S. Bazarevskiy, M. V. Bogdanov, and E. V. Yakovlev
Phys. Status Solidi C 6, No. S2, S329–S332 (2009)

"Reactor and growth process optimization for growth of thick GaN layers on sapphire substrates by HVPE",
E. Richter, Ch. Hennig, M. Weyers, F. Habel, J.-D. Tsay, W.-Y. Liu, P. Bruåckner, F. Scholz, Yu. Makarov, A. Segal, J. Kaeppeler,
Journal of Crystal Growth 277 (2005) 6–12 (01)

"Surface chemistry and transport effects in GaN hydride vapor phase epitaxy",
A.S. Segal, A.V. Kondratyev, S.Yu. Karpov, D. Martin, V. Wagner, M. Ilegems,
Journal of Crystal Growth 270 (2004) 384–395 (01)