Integration of High Quality III-V Materials on Si Using the Aspect-Ratio-Trapping Technique

Abstract

III-V compound semiconductor materials grown on elemental semiconductor substrates have attracted much attention due to their mobility and direct bandstructure. And the III-V/Si system could combine the advantages of both material systems. The growth of high quality III-V thin films on Si (or Ge) is the first crucial step for III-V high-mobility or optical devices. However, The large lattice mismatch between III-V materials and Si is the main challenge for its integration on large sized Si wafers. Recently, the aspect-ratio trapping (ART) technique offers an elegant and cost effective solution for integrating III-V materials on the Si wafer. We report the selective area growth of III-V materials in “V-shaped” trenches on Si (001) substrates via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD).High quality GaAs thin films were achieved using a two-step growth process and the aspect ratio trapping method.In addition, high quality InP and InAs film was grown in trenches with a GaAs buffer layer. Material quality was confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD).This approach shows that these III-V materials could be high mobility channels for future CMOS technology node. We also report a InGaAs/InP multi-quantum-well growth in nanoscale V-shaped trenches on Si (001) substrate was studied using the aspect ratio trapping method. A high quality GaAs/InP buffer layer with two convex {111} B facets was selectively grown to promote the highly uniform, single-crystal ridge InP/InGaAs multi-quantum-well structure growth. Material quality was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and room temperature micro-photoluminescence measurements. This approach shows great promise for the fabrication of photonics devices like nanolasers on Si substrate.