Development of a modular, large-scale, high-throughput semicontinuous-modeliquid-phase epitaxy system

We describe the design, operation, and performance of a high-throughput, la rge-scale liquid-phase epitaxy system for producing semiconductor optoelect ronic devices. This system operates in a semicontinuous mode with high depo sition rates and produces uniform, device-quality AlGaAs epitaxial structur es on 75-mm (3 ") diameter GaAs substrates. The system has a modular design and can be readily adapted for growth of multilayer heterostructures. This new LPE system represents a two order of magnitude improvement in areal th roughput compared to conventional horizontal slideboat systems and has appl ications for LEDs, thermophotovoltaic devices, solar cells, and detectors. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.