Recent developments in Liquid Phase Electroepitaxial growth of bulk crystals under magnetic field

Abstract

This review article presents recent developments in Liquid Phase Electroepitaxial (LPEE) growth of bulk single crystals of alloy semiconductors under an applied static magnetic field. The growth rate in LPEE is proportional to the applied electric current. However, at higher electric current levels the growth becomes unstable due to the strong convection occurring in the liquid zone. In order to address this problem, a significant body of research has been performed in recent years to suppress and control the natural convection for the purpose of prolonging the growth process to grow larger crystals. LPEE growth experiments show that the growth rate under an applied static magnetic field is also proportional and increases with the field intensity level. The modeling of LPEE growth under magnetic field was also the subject of interest. Two-dimensional mathematical models developed for the LPEE growth process predicted that the natural convection in the liquid zone would be suppressed almost completely with increasing the magnetic field level. However, experiments and also three-dimensional models have shown that there is an optimum magnetic field level below which the growth process is stable and the convection in the liquid zone is suppressed, but above such a field level the convective flow becomes very strong and leads to unstable growth with unstable interfaces. To cite this article: S. Dost et al., C. R. Mecanique 332 (2004).