Chapter 4 Mechanical Behavior of Compound Semiconductors

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the mechanical behavior of compound semiconductors. The semiconductor industry has long been aware of the need to avoid deformation during bulk single-crystal semiconductor growth or during subsequent device processing. Materials with covalent character have strong temperature dependence for flow at low temperatures, corresponding to a rate-controlling mechanism related to the intrinsic lattice resistance or Peierls barrier. An athermal plateau region appears at intermediate temperatures, corresponding to extrinsic effects such as solid solution hardening, while at high temperatures other creep-type mechanisms would be applicable. At low temperatures, the Peierls periodic potential barrier is so large that movement of a dislocation from one low-energy position to the next requires the application of a large stress. This barrier is overcome by the process of nucleation and lateral propagation of double kinks on the dislocation line. As in other materials, the difference in atomic size between solute and solvent atoms and the difference in valence lead to elastic misfit strains and electronic interactions between solute atom and dislocations, thereby causing an increase in resistance to dislocation motion. In the case of an isovalent solute in a lattice site, the size misfit would be the primary factor determining the ease of dislocation motion or lack thereof.