US3889635A - Apparatus for producing epitaxial layers - Google Patents

Apparatus for producing epitaxial layers Download PDF

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Publication number
US3889635A
US3889635A US485448A US48544874A US3889635A US 3889635 A US3889635 A US 3889635A US 485448 A US485448 A US 485448A US 48544874 A US48544874 A US 48544874A US 3889635 A US3889635 A US 3889635A
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United States
Prior art keywords
gap
substrate
carrier
melt
heat capacity
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Expired - Lifetime
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US485448A
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English (en)
Inventor
Joerg Aengenheister
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Siemens AG
Siemens Corp
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Siemens Corp
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Publication date
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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C30—CRYSTAL GROWTH
    • C30B—SINGLE-CRYSTAL GROWTH; UNIDIRECTIONAL SOLIDIFICATION OF EUTECTIC MATERIAL OR UNIDIRECTIONAL DEMIXING OF EUTECTOID MATERIAL; REFINING BY ZONE-MELTING OF MATERIAL; PRODUCTION OF A HOMOGENEOUS POLYCRYSTALLINE MATERIAL WITH DEFINED STRUCTURE; SINGLE CRYSTALS OR HOMOGENEOUS POLYCRYSTALLINE MATERIAL WITH DEFINED STRUCTURE; AFTER-TREATMENT OF SINGLE CRYSTALS OR A HOMOGENEOUS POLYCRYSTALLINE MATERIAL WITH DEFINED STRUCTURE; APPARATUS THEREFOR
    • C30B19/00—Liquid-phase epitaxial-layer growth
    • C30B19/06—Reaction chambers; Boats for supporting the melt; Substrate holders
    • C30B19/061—Tipping system, e.g. by rotation
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10S117/00—Single-crystal, oriented-crystal, and epitaxy growth processes; non-coating apparatus therefor
    • Y10S117/90—Apparatus characterized by composition or treatment thereof, e.g. surface finish, surface coating

Definitions

  • a melt which contains a saturated amount of the material to be epitaxially deposited is applied to a substrate surface at the starting temperature for deposition and the substrate is then cooled, as a result of which the material to be deposited is caused to crystallize.
  • the molten solution becomes su' per-saturated or super-cooled and this process is referred to as constitutional super-cooling or crystallization via growth cooling.
  • constitutional super-cooling crystallization initially takes place on the substrate, which functions as a crystallization seed. If the constitutional super-cooling is too fast, seeds will also form within the melt itself, i.e. the melt becomes encrusted and undesirable and uneven epitaxial layers are formed.
  • the melt In order to reduce the rate of constitutional supercooling, the melt must have a higher temperature than the substrate, i.e., a temperature gradient must exist between the melt and the substrate.
  • German Offenlegungsschrift Pat. No. 2,028,l08 suggests that in order to improve the surface quality of epitaxial layers, the substrate should be arranged within a gap and the epitaxial deposition process take place in such a gap.
  • the concept of this suggestion is to arrange the substrate surface relatively close to an adjacent solid wall of the epitaxy device.
  • the required temperature gradient between the melt and the substrate is produced by means of a special relative spatial arrangement of the substrate, the melt and a heating means.
  • the apparatus thus provided renders it difficult, if not impossible, to realize steep temperature gradients.
  • because of the surface tension of the melt it is not possible to narrow the gap as desired. since once a certain lower limit of the gap width is reached. the melt fails to flow within the gap.
  • the invention provides an epitaxy apparatus which substantially eliminates the aforementioned disadvantages of prior art epitaxy devices.
  • uniform epitaxial layers of a desired thickness are deposited on a substrate composed of compound semiconductor material and which is positioned within a gap so that the melt, which contains the material to be epitaxially deposited, is guided to the gap via a wedgeshaped slot.
  • the epitaxy apparatus comprises a selectively movable substrate carrier member having at least two adjoining surfaces which define an obtuse angle with one another, a parallelepiped high-heat capacity body associated with the carrier member so as to define a gap for the substrate between the carrier member and the body along a pair of adjacent surfaces thereof and so as to define a wedgeshaped slot in communication with the gap along another pair of adjacent surfaces thereof. and a selectively movable container mounted on the high heat capacity body for holding a melt so that by inserting a substrate into the gap and placing a melt within the container and selectively moving the substrate carrier in a first direction, the melt will flow through the wedge-shaped slot to the gap and onto a substrate sur-- face. Then by super-cooling the apparatus. an epitaxial layer is deposited on the substrate surface.
  • the invention provides an apparatus for producing uniform epitaxial layers on a substrate wherein a substrate is positioned in a gap, a melt containing the material which is to be epitaxially deposited is flown to the substrate surface in the gap via a wedge-shaped slot and the material within the melt is deposited on the substrate surface by super-cooling the melt.
  • a gap is defined between adjacent surfaces of a substrate carrier and a high-heat capacity body and a wedgeshaped slot is provided in communication with the gap and is defined by other adjacent surfaces of the substrate carrier and the high-heat capacity body.
  • a container for the melt is provided on the high-heat capacity body and is associated with the wedge-shaped slot so that the melt may be guided from the container via the slot to the gap and onto the substrate surface.
  • Apparatus constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention features a temperature gradient, which is required for constitutional super-cooling, which is determined solely by the gap boundaries. Since the gap boundaries on the side of the melt are in fact formed by the high-heat capacity body, the temperature gradient can readily be made very steep by maintaining a small gap width and a'high cooling rate. This arrangement always insures that the melt is hotter than the substrate and avoids a crust from forming on the melt.
  • the gap width in an epitaxy apparatus constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention may be made very narrow since the melt is guided from a container on the high-heat capacity body through a wedge-shaped slot onto the substrate dance with the invention also provides a saving ofspace since a plurality of wafers or substrates may be epitaxially processed by arranging such plurality directly next to one another on the substrate carrier without any auxiliary means.
  • a substrate carrier 2 is attached on a selectively movable shaft 1.
  • the substrate carrier 2 takes the form of an angular member having at least two joined side walls which define an obtuse angle with one another.
  • a body 4 composed of a high-heat capacity material is positioned on the substrate carrier 2 and held in place by pins 3.
  • the body 4 comprises a parallelepiped member which is composed of quartz or aluminum oxide.
  • a recess 5 is provided along the central area of a bottom surface of body 4 so as to define, with the adjacent substrate carrier surface, a gap 12.
  • the gap 12 may also be defined by spacing the bottom surface of the body 4 a select distance above the substrate carrier.
  • the gap 12 is of a size sufficient to receive at least one substrate 6 therein, upon which an epitaxial layer is to be deposited.
  • a wedge-shaped slot 7, which is in communication with the gap 12, is provided between a pair of adjacent walls of the carrier 2 and the high-heat capacity body 4.
  • a selectively movable vessel or container 8 is positioned on top of the body 4 above each substrate 6 and held in place by flanges 9 and 10.
  • a melt 11, which contains the material to be epitaxially deposited onto the substrate 6, is placed within the container 8.
  • the entire apparatus A as described above is heated via a suitable heating means to a required temperature in accordance with the material being deposited. Then the apparatus A is selectively moved, for example, about shaft 1 in a direction indicated by arrow la so that the melt ll falls or flows into the wedge-shaped slot 7 and runs along the gap 12, which contains a substrate 6 and onto the up-facing surface of the substrate. If more than one substrate is placed within the gap, accordingly more containers are used and moved along the directions indicated by arrow 10a so as to be placed one above each substrate. Thereafter, the apparatus A is moved back to the starting position and an appropriate cooling means is activated to cool the apparatus so that the deposition process proceeds in the manner described earher.
  • apparatusus constructed in accordance with the invention prevent crust formation on the melt, it becomes advantageously feasible to deposit a plurality of substances in accordance with appropriate phase diagrams in the sequence of their respective solubility within the melt on one or more substrates.
  • a thin layer of silicon may be deposited with the apparatus of the invention so that it is possible to contemporaneously form ohmic contacts for the p-doped layers of gallium arsenide beneath the thin silicon layer.
  • an additional contact diffusion process may be dispensed with.
  • the gap 12 is open for access along a side thereof, it is possible to introduce substances in a gaseous form, such as doping substances, during the epitaxial deposition with the apparatus of the invention.
  • An apparatus for the production of epitaxial layers on a substrate composed of a compound semiconductor material comprising:
  • a substrate carrier having at least two adjoining surfaces
  • a high-heat capacity body in contact with one of said surfaces of the substrate carrier and adjacent the other of said surfaces of the substrate carrier;
  • a container for holding a melt containing the material to be epitaxially deposited said container being positioned on said high-heat capacity body and in communication with said slot;
  • a selectively movable shaft attached to said substrate carrier so that upon movement of said shaft the melt is guided from said container through said slot to said gap and onto a surface of a substrate within said gap for epitaxial deposition thereon upon super-cooling of said melt.
  • said substrate carrier is an angular member having adjacent side walls which form an obtuse angle with one another.
  • An apparatus for the production of epitaxial layers on a substrate comprising:
  • a selectively movable substrate carrier member havparallelepiped body above said gap and in commuing at least tvvo adjoining walls which define an obnication with said slot for maintaining a melt contuse angle with one another; taining the material to be epitaxially deposited a parallelepiped body composed of a high-heat catherein; and
  • An apparatus as defined in claim 7 including surface of the parallelepiped body so as to define means for selectively moving said container along said a gap between said body and said carrier member body for directing said melt to selective areas of said for receiving at least one substrate therein: gap.

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Liquid Deposition Of Substances Of Which Semiconductor Devices Are Composed (AREA)
  • Crystals, And After-Treatments Of Crystals (AREA)
US485448A 1973-07-05 1974-07-03 Apparatus for producing epitaxial layers Expired - Lifetime US3889635A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE2334306A DE2334306B2 (de) 1973-07-05 1973-07-05 Vorrichtung zur Herstellung von epitaktischen Schichten auf Substraten aus Verbindungshalbleiter-Material

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US3889635A true US3889635A (en) 1975-06-17

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US485448A Expired - Lifetime US3889635A (en) 1973-07-05 1974-07-03 Apparatus for producing epitaxial layers

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Country Link
US (1) US3889635A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
JP (1) JPS5738559B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE2334306B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
FR (1) FR2236270B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB1433568A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
NL (1) NL7409158A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4386975A (en) * 1978-10-28 1983-06-07 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Method for the manufacture of epitaxial Ga1-x Alx As:Si film
US4594128A (en) * 1984-03-16 1986-06-10 Cook Melvin S Liquid phase epitaxy
US4597823A (en) * 1983-09-12 1986-07-01 Cook Melvin S Rapid LPE crystal growth

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3522792A (en) * 1967-11-14 1970-08-04 Us Agriculture Device for applying a coating of varying thickness
US3664294A (en) * 1970-01-29 1972-05-23 Fairchild Camera Instr Co Push-pull structure for solution epitaxial growth of iii{14 v compounds
US3692592A (en) * 1970-02-12 1972-09-19 Rca Corp Method and apparatus for depositing epitaxial semiconductive layers from the liquid phase
US3697330A (en) * 1970-03-27 1972-10-10 Sperry Rand Corp Liquid epitaxy method and apparatus
US3707137A (en) * 1969-05-02 1972-12-26 Boehringer Mannheim Gmbh Thin layer chromatography coating device
US3791344A (en) * 1969-09-11 1974-02-12 Licentia Gmbh Apparatus for liquid phase epitaxy

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3522792A (en) * 1967-11-14 1970-08-04 Us Agriculture Device for applying a coating of varying thickness
US3707137A (en) * 1969-05-02 1972-12-26 Boehringer Mannheim Gmbh Thin layer chromatography coating device
US3791344A (en) * 1969-09-11 1974-02-12 Licentia Gmbh Apparatus for liquid phase epitaxy
US3664294A (en) * 1970-01-29 1972-05-23 Fairchild Camera Instr Co Push-pull structure for solution epitaxial growth of iii{14 v compounds
US3692592A (en) * 1970-02-12 1972-09-19 Rca Corp Method and apparatus for depositing epitaxial semiconductive layers from the liquid phase
US3697330A (en) * 1970-03-27 1972-10-10 Sperry Rand Corp Liquid epitaxy method and apparatus

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4386975A (en) * 1978-10-28 1983-06-07 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Method for the manufacture of epitaxial Ga1-x Alx As:Si film
US4597823A (en) * 1983-09-12 1986-07-01 Cook Melvin S Rapid LPE crystal growth
US4594128A (en) * 1984-03-16 1986-06-10 Cook Melvin S Liquid phase epitaxy

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE2334306A1 (de) 1975-01-30
JPS5039468A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1975-04-11
FR2236270B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1978-10-13
DE2334306C3 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1979-04-05
GB1433568A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1976-04-28
DE2334306B2 (de) 1978-08-03
NL7409158A (nl) 1975-01-07
FR2236270A1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1975-01-31
JPS5738559B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1982-08-16

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