FACET FORMATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF III-V STRUCTURES GROWN ON PATTERNED SURFACES

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 eff ect of interfacet diffusion and the anisotropic surface diffusion proc ess as well as the molecular beam aux density at the facets is discuss ed. Planar selective area epitaxy (SAE), where the facets can evolve f reely, is selected as the starting point. Low lateral growth rates at side wall (01 (1) over bar) 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 cons tant material compositions up to the lateral contact. Applications for SAE-grown waveguides and laser-waveguide integration are presented. ( C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.