Exploitation of surface selective growth in metalorganic growth technologies for device applications

Abstract

Surface selective growth (SSG) is gaining importance for the realization of complex device concepts. This review article addresses basic SSG mechanisms both in metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) and in metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy (MOMBE/CBE). It is described how these mechanisms can be exploited for the fabrication of complex devices focusing on the InP based material system. Additionally it is shown that with novel precursors new effects can be observed in SSG. The applications of SSG are highlighted by a discussion on selected devices. A critical comparison reveals that SSG in MOVPE can find some applications, but MOMBE offers higher flexibility, moreover a higher yield than in MOVPE can be expected. Therefore, MOMBE appears to be the preferred technology for SSG. However, since MOMBE is not established in production, a substantial R&D back-up is required for an industrial application of SSG in MOMBE.