MORPHOLOGICAL STABILITY DURING GAAS SOLUTION GROWTH - LIQUID-PHASE EPITAXY VERSUS THE TRAVELING HEATER METHOD

Experiments are performed by using liquid phase epitaxy and the travel ling heater method in order to study separately the influence of cryst allographic orientation, growth rate and spatial temperature gradients on the morphology of growth faces in solution growth. Liquid phase ep itaxy, carried out on planar (111) or (100) oriented substrates, illus trates the effect of crystallographic orientation with misorientations towards [110]. The travelling heater method, typically showing a curv ed interface of the [111] oriented seeds, demonstrates the influence o f temperature gradients at the growth face. Both methods are used to s tudy the effect of growth rate variations. Morphological stability can be achieved for growth rates below a critical value. Temperature grad ients raise this critical value. The critical value decreases, however , with increasing misorientation of the growth face. The critical grow th rate reaches a minimum and then increases again for higher misorien tation.