Surface migration effect and lateral vapor-phase diffusion effect for InGaAsP/InP narrow-stripe selective metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy

Migration from a masked region and lateral vapor-phase diffusion are the me chanisms of growth-rate enhancement and compositional change for InGaAsP/In P selective metal-organic vapor-phase epitaxy (MOVPE). A novel threshold ma sk width where the lateral vapor-phase diffusion starts to occur is propose d. When the mask width is less than the threshold mask width, the major mec hanism of selective MOVPE is the surface migration from the dielectric mask region, and the lateral vapor-phase diffusion is very small. On the other hand, when the mask width is larger than the threshold mask width, the majo r mechanism of selective MOVPE switches to lateral vapor-phase diffusion. W e discuss the effective migration length on a dielectric mask and the mecha nism of the narrow-stripe selective MOVPE for several growth conditions by considering the concept of the threshold mask width. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.