Facet formation and characterization of III–V structures grown on patterned surfaces

Abstract

In selective area growth there is a lateral transition from growth to non-growth areas. At this point the growth is determined by the lowest growing crystal planes. This review summarizes the mechanisms during the facet formation in the InP/GaInAsP material system with respect to the growth conditions in metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy. The effect of interfacet diffusion and the anisotropic surface diffusion process as well as the molecular beam flux density at the facets is discussed. Planar selective area epitaxy (SAE), where the facets can evolve freely, is selected as the starting point. Low lateral growth rates at side wall (01 1 ) planes of the structure are achieved under perpendicular molecular beam geometry. The results are transferred to embedded SAE for the lateral coupling of heterostructures having constant material compositions up to the lateral contact. Applications for SAE-grown waveguides and laser-waveguide integration are presented.