Fundamental models of the metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy of gallium nitride and their use in reactor design

A fundamental reaction-transport model describing the metalorganic vapor-ph ase epitaxy (MOVPE) of GaN from trimethyl-gallium (TMG) and ammonia has bee n developed. This model has been tested against experimental data from rese arch-scale and industrial-scale reactors. A simplified version of the model that includes only transport phenomena and a unity sticking coefficient of the limiting film precursor (TMG) to the surface of the growing film was f ound to accurately capture observed film deposition variations in an early variant of the Thomas Swan close-coupled-shower-head 3 x 2 " reactor. Modif ications of the Thomas Swan reactor, in line with the findings suggested by this work, enabled state-of-the-art thickness uniformity to be achieved. T he model has been used to develop performance diagrams for conceptual multi -aperture MOVPE reactors and for the Thomas Swan system. These performance diagrams identify regions of the parameter space of the reactor which corre spond to minimal variations in film growth rate across large-area substrate s. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.