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MOCVD - Gas System

The gas system of an MOCVD reactor comprises gas lines, source lines, an epifold manifold, and differential pressure control. Gas lines supply hydride gases like arsine and phosphine mixed with hydrogen, while source lines supply metalorganics like TMG, TMI, and TMAl. The epifold manifold switches reagents and equalizes pressure differences. A differential pressure controller compensates for pressure changes during switching to prevent back-streaming or transient effects. The system also includes driers and purifiers like palladium cells and molecular sieves to remove impurities from gases.

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Malik Fawad Tariq Awan
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55 views

MOCVD - Gas System

The gas system of an MOCVD reactor comprises gas lines, source lines, an epifold manifold, and differential pressure control. Gas lines supply hydride gases like arsine and phosphine mixed with hydrogen, while source lines supply metalorganics like TMG, TMI, and TMAl. The epifold manifold switches reagents and equalizes pressure differences. A differential pressure controller compensates for pressure changes during switching to prevent back-streaming or transient effects. The system also includes driers and purifiers like palladium cells and molecular sieves to remove impurities from gases.

Uploaded by

Malik Fawad Tariq Awan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MOCVD

Gas System
Configuration of Gas System

The Gas System of MOCVD comprises of the following elements

1. Gas Lines

2. Source Lines

3. Epifold

4. Differential Pressure Control


Configuration of Gas System

➢Gas lines: Supply the Hydride gases such as Arsine (AsH3)or


Phosphine (PH3) used in MOCVD growth, which are mixed with

purified Hydrogen (H2 ) all via Mass Flow Controllers.

➢Source lines: Supply the Metal Organics such as TriMethyl Gallium


(TMG), TriMethyl Indium (TMI) or TriMethyl Aluminium (TMAl) to the

reactor
Configuration of Gas System

❖Source materials are held in Stainless Steel Bubblers mounted in temperature


controlled baths, whose temperature determines vapour pressure.

❖Bubbler pressure is controlled by an upstream pressure controller, to ensure


a constant vapour pressure.

❖The resultant source vapour is then carried by purified Hydrogen (H2) via a
Mass Flow Controller to the System manifold.
❖Source and Gas Lines are fed to a Source or Gas Epifold input manifold to
switch in the relevant reagent to the Reactor, to be mixed at the Reactor
showerhead.
Configuration of Gas System

o Each Epifold manifold in addition has a differential pressure controller


associated with it, which allows wide pressure differences to be compensated
for when switching reagents during process.

o Differential pressure control is included in each Epifold manifold to prevent


any unwanted gas flow effects when the pressure in the vent line is not equal
to the pressure in the carrier line. This prevents any back-streaming effects by
the gas into lower pressure lines, reduces any switching transients, and stops
unwanted mixing effects or pressure drops that may give unexpected growth
characteristics.
Configuration of Gas System

✓Equal pressure in the carrier and vent lines, a differential pressure transducer,
total span ±1 Torr is fitted between the two lines. The output controls the valve
of the vent mass flow controller, which responds to maintain equal pressure in
the two lines by modification of the flow.

✓The differential pressure controller connected between the carrier and the vent
line compensates the difference, but the transient condition during correction
may give rise to unwanted characteristics whilst it reacts to a feedback signal. To
compensate for this effect, two Make-up lines are included in each Epifold
Configuration of Gas System
▪ This is achieved by using predictive software which calculates the flow
required on the next step, together with a differential pressure controller which
will modify the flow in Vent and Carrier lines, via Mass Flow Controllers
fitted on these lines.
Driers & Purifiers
• Owing to the reactivity of metal-organics with oxygen and water vapour the
reactor incorporates a variety of devices for drying and purifying the gases
used in the process. Palladium diffusion cell is used to purify the bulk
hydrogen used as the carrier gas, whilst a molecular sieve trap is used to
remove oxygen and water vapour from hydride sources such as Arsine and
Phosphine.
Palladium Diffusion Cell
• Palladium diffusion cells are normally used for the purification of
the bulk hydrogen used within the reactor.
Palladium Diffusion Cell
❖In order to prevent the impurities
rejected by the membrane building up
at the input side of the purifier and
reducing its efficiency, a proportion of
the input gas (~5%) is diverted to waste
via a bleed valve.

❖Disadvantages to this type of


device, which are related to the ease
with which the membrane can be
damaged.
Molecular Sieve Driers

❑In order to guard against the


contamination of the system with
moisture borne by the group V
hydride gases, molecular sieve
drying columns are often fitted to
these reagent lines.
ShowerHead Reactor
❑Reagents enter the stainless steel, quartz
lined reactor through a water-cooled
showerhead close to the substrates. The
showerhead has separate injection through
which the precursors are delivered into the
process chamber, either together or
separately.

❑ The optimisation of material uniformity for alloy composition, layer


thickness and doping carrier concentration is readily obtained by the
adjustment of the main carrier gas flows, susceptor rotation speed,
chamber pressure, and a uniform temperature profile over the
susceptor.
ShowerHead Reactor
• The showerhead has a high density of tubes -
around 100 per square inch, and use of a dual
plenum design means that reagents cannot mix
until they are at the susceptor surface, preventing
any pre-reaction.

• The showerhead size is matched to the susceptor


dimensions, so there is a uniform flow of
homogeneous mixed reagents over the entire
susceptor, encouraging there to be uniform layer
thickness, uniformity of alloy composition, and
reproducibility of process when carrying out
growth.
Reactor raise and lower control
ShowerHead Purge
Transport & Reaction

Ga(CH3)3 + NH3 -------> GaN + 3CH4

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