Improvement of MOCVD Growth Technique Using CBr4
by Satoshi Arakawa *, Mitsumasa Ito *, Ryuusuke Nakasaki * and Akihiko Kasukawa *In-situ etching of compound semiconductor and selective epitaxial growth of an
Al-containing material were realized in a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD) reactor using carbon tetrabromide (CBr4). In-situ etching depended on the content of
the compound semiconductor. InP was easily etched in proportion to the amount of CBr4, andprovided a smooth surface; Al-containing layers could not be etched. This technique was very
effective for obtaining a good regrowth interface and reducing the concentration of impurities.
When CBr4 was introduced during the selective growth of AlGaInAs layers, there were no polycrystals on the dielectric masks. Because CBr4 did not adversely influence optical properties, thismethod is effective for fabricating compound semiconductor devices.

ABSTRACT1.

INTRODUCTION

Recently, demands to improve semiconductor opticaldevices for optical communication systems have been
increasing. To realize devices with such high performanceas uncooled operation and high-speed modulation, newmaterials and integration technique have been applied.
AlGaInAs/InP and GaInNAs/GaAs have advantages
over conventional GaInAsP/InP lasers in terms of hightemperature operation. Integrated devices such as EA
modulator integrated DFB-LD and wavelength-selectable
LDs, which has an LD-array, an optical amplifier, and apassive waveguide, have been developed. Metalorganic
chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), which is the key
technology for epitaxial growth, also needs to be improved
to fabricate high-performance devices. In this paper, we
report on new MOCVD techniques for developing
AlGaInAs systems.
AlGaInAs includes aluminum, which has high reactivity.
Aluminum reacts strongly with oxygen in air, and the surface of AlGaInAs is easily oxidized, so many defects are
generated at the interface grown on the oxidized
AlGaInAs layer. Aluminum also reacts with dielectricmasks such as SiN and induces polycrystals on the mask
during selective growth. To avoid these problems, anetching gas was introduced into the MOCVD reactor. It has
been reported that this technique improves selectivity during selective growth 1)~3), in-situ etching in the reactor 4)~7),
and surface cleaning 8). Materials containing chlorine, suchas hydrogen chloride (HCl), arsenic trichloride (AsCl3),and carbon chloride compounds (CxHyClz), are used as
etching gases. The etching mechanism is such that thechlorine radical, which is thermally decomposed from Clcontaining gas in the high-temperature reactor, reacts with*group-III atoms and forms a III-Cl compound. This compound is so volatile that it desorbs from the surface to thegas phase, and the remaining group-V atom, phosphorus
or arsenic are also thermally removed from the surface.
Occasionally, these chloride materials damage theequipment and the environment as a result of their strong
reactivity. In contrast, materials containing bromine havethe advantage of lower corrosion than chlorine-containing
materials. Among them, carbon tetrabromide (CBr4) is
widely used as a precursor for carbon doping in GaAs
systems 9), 10), therefore, a high-quality material is commercially available.
For this paper, CBr4 was used as the etching gas in
MOCVD reactor for the first time. High-quality epitaxial
growth on AlInAs layer using in-situ etching and highselectivity of the selective growth of AlGaInAs multiple
quantum wells (MQW) were realized 11), 12).

2.

EXPERIMENTAL METHODAll experiments were executed in a low-pressure MOCVD
reactor. CBr4 was introduced into the reactor with hydrogen carrier gas. The concentration and the maximum flowrate were 0.08 % and 6.4 µmol/min, respectively. The
temperature of the substrate was varied from 540 to
660°C.
SiN patterned masks were used for in-situ etching andselective growth. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM),
secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), and photoluminescence (PL) were applied to the samples for estimating
surface morphology, film thickness, contents, and opticalproperties. Broad contact-type LDs were fabricated to estimate laser characteristics.

WE Team, Yokohama R&D Lab.

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Improvement of MOCVD Growth Technique Using CBr43.

phase, and the remaining P atoms were successively
removed from the surface.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 In-situ Etching with CBr4
3.1.1 Etching of InP
The InP wafer was etched in the MOCVD reactor with
CBr4 under PH3 pressure. The surface after in-situ etching
was very smooth and there were no surface defects. The
etching rate of InP was proportional to the CBr4 flow rate,
as shown in Figure 1. The substrate temperature in therange from 540 to 660°C, and the PH3 flow rate between
250 and 500 cc/min did not affect the etching rate.
Figure 2 shows the depth profile around the mask afteretching. The etching rate near the mask edge wasenhanced in comparison to the area that had no influence
from the mask. This phenomenon was similar to enhancing the rate of selective growth, which was caused by lateral diffusion and migration of group-III sources supplied
onto the mask. It was assumed that CBr4 or Br radicals,
which were supplied to the mask, contributed to increasing the etching rate around the mask edge.
The epitaxial growth of MOCVD is limited by the amountof group-III under normal conditions, in which the growthrate is independent of the growth temperature and theflow rate of the group-V sources. Etching InP with CBr4under the above conditions was also restricted by theamount of CBr4, and it was assumed that the following
etching process proceeds smoothly. Bromine radicals
thermally decomposed from CBr4 reacted with InP, andvolatile In-Br compounds were formed. The compounds
desorbed from the surface of the sample to the vapor

3.1.2 Etching the DH Structure
The GaInAsP and AlGaInAs DH structures with SiN stripe
masks, as shown in Figure 3, were etched with CBr4. The
thickness of the p-InP upper cladding layer was 300 nm.
The substrate temperature and the flow rate of CBr4 were
600°C and 3.2 µmol/min, respectively. The etching timewas 30 minutes, which was sufficient to etch the upper
cladding layer, and thus the GaInAsP or AlGaInAs layer
was exposed to the gas containing CBr4 for about 8 minutes.
Figure 4 shows SEM images of the samples after etching. In the GaInAsP sample (a), many residues remainedon the surface, and the etching rate of the GaInAsP layer
was very low. The limitation of this etching process under
this condition was dominated by the desorption of As
atoms from the surface, rather than removal of Ga-Br
compounds 9).
For the AlGaInAs sample (b), a mirror-like surface wasobtained and undercut etching of the upper cladding layer
was observed after etching with CBr4. It was assumed that
Al-Br compounds could not desorb form the surface to thevapor phase under this condition, so etching was stopped
at the top of the AlGaInAs layer. As a result, CBr4 supplied
onto the AlGaInAs surface laterally migrated and caused
the undercut etching.
It was concluded that the etching effect of bromine was
In»Ga>Al. This process was similar to the reverse reactions of halogen transport VPE, and its equilibrium con-

50

SiN mask
Etching rate (nm/min)

40

p-InP (d=500nm)
MQW

30

n-InP
20

GaInAsP DH

10

p-InP
30nm ×3 GaInAsP

Tsub=600°C
0
0

5

10

(λg=1.0,1.1,1.2µm)

CBr4 (µmol/min)

GaInAsP

Figure 1

Dependence of etching rate on CBr4 flow rate.

n-InP

0

Etching depth (µm)

-0.2

..

6wellsTsub=600°C
time=20minmask area

AlGaInAs DH
p-InP

-0.4

100nm AlGaInAs(λg=1.0µm)-0.6

AlGaInAs-0.8..

6wells

-1
-1.2
-100

n-InP
0

100

200

300

Distance from mask edge (µm)

Figure 2

Figure 3

Structures of DH samples.

Depth profile of etched sample around mask.

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Improvement of MOCVD Growth Technique Using CBr4(a)(a) GaInAsP

2µm
SiN
mask
AlInAsAlGaInAs
InP

InP

GaInAsP(b)(b) AlGaInAs

5µm

SiN
mask
AlInAsAlGaInAs
InP

InP

Figure 4

AlGaInAs

Figure 5

SEM pictures of samples after etching.

SEM pictures of samples after regrowth.

50(a) oxygen

AlInAsn-InP

30
w/o etch.

20

with etch.

10

0
50
(b) carbon

AlInAsn-InP

40

Carbon conc.

3.1.3 Regrowth on In-situ Etched Sample
To confirm the advantages of in-situ etching with CBr4, an
AlInAs layer was successively grown on the AlGaInAs DH
sample in the MOCVD reactor. We prepared the ex-situ
sample, which was exposed to air before regrowth on the
Al-containing layer for the reference.
SEM images after regrowth are shown in Figure 5. The
smooth surface and high-quality crystal were obtainedwith the in-situ etching sample. On the contrary, the surface of the ex-situ sample was very rough and defects
were observed at the interface of regrowth. The Al-containing layer was readily oxidized in air and caused degradation of the regrowth interface and the epitaxial layer.
These results showed that in-situ etching was effective for
improving regrowth on the Al-containing layer.
SIMS measurements were executed to estimate theimpurities at the regrowth interface. An AlInAs layer was
grown on an InP wafer with and without in-situ etchingwith CBr4 for these measurements. The flow rate of CBr4and the etching time were 3.2 µmol/min and 3 minutes,
respectively. The etching depth was 30 nm under this condition. The surface of the sample without etching wascleaned with sulfuric acid before growth.
The depth profiles of oxygen and carbon are shown in
Figure 6. The solid and dotted lines indicate samples withand without in-situ etching, respectively. The oxygen concentration of the in-situ sample at the interface was

Oxygen conc.

40

stants were InP<InAs<GaAs«AlAs 13), which was opposite
tendency of the etching result.

w/o etch.

30
with etch.
20

10

0
200

300

400

Depth (nm)Figure 6

SIMS profile of impurities around regrowth interface.

markedly reduced, although both carbon profiles were
almost the same. The oxygen adsorbed on the surface
before growth was effectively removed by in-situ etching.
Although carbon elimination at the interface was not clear,contamination of carbon on the surface during etchingwith CBr4, which was the carbon dapant, was negligible. It
was concluded that in-situ etching with CBr 4 had theadvantage of a high-quality regrowth interface.

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Improvement of MOCVD Growth Technique Using CBr4

3.1.4 Improvement of In-situ Etching Characteristics
It was found that a rough surface was obtained after etching GaInAsP. It was also difficult to clean the oxidized surface of the Al-containing layer using CBr4. It was assumed
that these factors were partly due to the different etchingrates of group-III. To improve the effects of surface cleaning, TMIn, which was the source material of indium, wasintroduced into the reactor during CBr4 etching, because
indium was the easiest specie to etch.
After in-situ etching with CBr4, the MQW structure wasgrown on the AlInAs layer, whose surface was oxidized inair. The PL of the MQW was measured to estimate thequality of the growth interface. The flow rates of TMIn andCBr4 were 3.8 µmol/min and 1.6 µmol/min, respectively.
For the reference sample, in-situ etching was carried out
without TMIn. The flow rate of CBr4 for the reference sample was 0.3 µmol/min.
Figure 7 shows the etching time dependence of the PL
intensity of the MQW, which was normalized by the MQWon the InP layer. There was no PL intensity without etching because of the surface oxidization. In the sample without TMIn, PL intensity was about 25 % at 10 sec etching,and decreased sharply with etching time. On the contrary,
the maximum intensity of the sample with TMIn was about
75 %. The quality of epitaxial layers improved with theintroduction of TMIn during in-situ etching. We confirmed
the possibility of improving growth by supplying thesource.

3.2 Selective Growth of AlGaInAs with CBr4
3.2.1 Introduction of CBr4 during Growth
The etching effect of CBr4 on InP and AlGaInAs during
MOCVD growth was investigated. The relation between
the flow rate of CBr4 and the growth rate of InP is shownin Figure 8. Introducing CBr4 during growth suppressed
the growth rate, and the difference from that without CBr4
was the etching effect. This etching rate was proportional
to the amount of CBr4, and it was the same as the etchingrate in Figure 1. This relation did not depend on thegrowth rate and the flow rate of TMIn. It was assumed thatthe source of group-III supplied onto the sample partiallyreacted with bromide radicals, and was desorbed from thesurface.
Figure 9 shows the results of the ternary compounds,
AlInAs. The etching rate was proportional to the flow rateof CBr4, and it was almost the same as that of InP. The
aluminum content in AlInAs increased with the flow rate of
CBr4, and it was found that CBr4 only etched indium. In
the case of GaInAs, the results were the same as withAlInAs. It was concluded that indium was only etched with
CBr4 during growth for compounds including indium.
3.2.2 Selective Growth of AlGaInAs
Selective growth of AlGaInAs was examined. The patterned masks, which had an 80 µm width separated by a
20 µm opening, as shown in Figure 10, were used forselective growth. The growth structure was AlGaInAs DH,
as shown in Figure 4. The flow rates of group-III sourceswere adjusted in consideration of the above results.

1

40

0.25

Growth rate (nm/min)

with
TMIn

0.5

without
TMIn

0
0

0.7

30

0.6
etching
rate

20

0.5

50
Tg=680°C

Etching time (sec)10

Figure 7

Al content

PL intensity

0.75

0.4
0

PL intensity of MQW grown on in-situ etched sample.

0.5

1

1.5

CBr4 (µmol/min)Figure 9

Dependence of growth rate and Al content of AlInAs
on CBr4 flow rate.

70

Growth rate (nm/min)without CBr4

60

etching ratewidth=80µm

SiN
Mask area
Planararea

gap=20µm50
Tg=600°C
planar substrate

SiN
[011]

40
0

1

2

CBr4 (µmol/min)Figure 8

Dependence of growth rate of InP on CBr4 flow rate.

[011]

Area shownin Figure 11

Figure 10 Mask pattern for selective growth.

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Improvement of MOCVD Growth Technique Using CBr4

20µm
semiconductor

SiN
SiN

mask

mask
semiconductor
(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 11 Top views around mask area of as-grown sample.

3.2.3 Influence of CBr4 on Optical Properties
The influence of CBr 4 on the optical properties of
AlGaInAs QW was evaluated using PL and broad contact
LDs of the planar area. The emission wavelength of all
samples was set at 1300 nm. The dependence of characteristics on CBr4 flow rate is shown in Figure 12. Although
PL intensity became a little weaker as the CBr4 flow rateincreased, the threshold current density of LD was
reduced. It was experimentally concluded that introducing
CBr4 during growth did not affect optical properties under
this condition.

800

PL intensity (A.U.)

6

600
4
400
2

Jth (A/cm2)

Many polycrystals remained on the mask without CBr4
being supplied, as shown in Figure 11 (a). They decrease
sharply with an increase of CBr4, and no polycrystals areobserved on the sample of CBr 4 =3.2 µ mol/min. An
improvement of the selective growth of Al-containing materials was reported with a change of growth conditions 14),15),
such as low growth rate and low growth temperature. Ouretching technique had an advantage for selective growth
because the growth condition did not need to be changed
from the optimized condition for AlGaInAs.
Growth enhancement at the mask edge was caused by
the migration of group-III sources on the mask, and it was
found that CBr4 did not affect the extent of enhancement.
CBr4 did not etch the migration species on the mask but
did etch the adsorbed atoms on the mask surface. The
adsorbed atoms acted as the nuclei of polycrystals, so
removing of the adsorbed atoms was very effective fordecreasing the polycrystals. Although aluminum atoms in
the AlInAs layer were not etched, the adsorbed aluminum
atoms on the mask were easily removed. It was assumed
that effective etching of aluminum on the mask wascaused by the smaller amount of group-III species on themask and the weaker bonding strength between Al andthe mask.

200
on planar substrate
0

0
0

2

4

CBr4 (µmol/min)Figure 12 Dependence of PL intensity and threshold current
density on CBr4 flow rate.

4.

CONCLUSION

In-situ etching of a compound semiconductor and selective epitaxial growth of an Al-containing material wererealized in a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD) reactor using carbon tetrabromide (CBr4). Insitu etching depended on the content of the compound
semiconductor. InP was easily etched in proportion to theamount of CBr4, and provided a smooth surface, and Alcontaining layers could not be etched. This technique wasvery effective for obtaining a good regrowth interface andreducing the concentration of impurities. When CBr4 wasintroduced during selective growth of AlGaInAs layers,
there were no polycrystals on the dielectric masks.
Because CBr4 did not adversely influence optical properties, this technique is effective for fabricating devices.

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