Title: An experimental study for the role of natural convection in the dissolution of GaSb into InSb melt, and the growth of In_xGa_1-xSb crystals

Authors: N. Murakami, K. Arafune, T. Koyama, Y. Momose, M. Kumagawa, Y. Hayakawa, T. Ozawa, Y. Okano, S. Dost

Addresses: Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8011, Japan. ' Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8011, Japan. ' Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8011, Japan. ' Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8011, Japan. ' Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8011, Japan. ' Research Institute of Electronics, Shizuoka University, 3-5-1 Johoku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 432-8011, Japan. ' Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology, 2200-2 Toyosawa, Fukuroi, Shizuoka 437-8555, Japan. ' Faculty of Engineering, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka 432-8561, Japan. ' Crystal Growth Laboratory, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 3P6

Abstract: The article presents an experimental study for the role of convection occurring during the dissolution of GaSb into InSb melt, and the growth of In_xGa_1-xSb crystals. Experiments were carried out in a GaSb(seed)/InSb/GaSb(feed) sandwich system under an imposed temperature gradient. In the experiments, the GaSb feed crystal dissolved into the InSb melt to supply the required GaSb component for the growth of In_xGa_1-xSb crystal. Experiments were carried out for two different reference temperatures and two sample diameters. It was observed that the shape of the GaSb(seed)/InGaSb interface became flatter when the reference temperature was lower and the sample diameter was smaller. The growth length of uniform composition section was larger in the case of higher reference temperature. Experiments show that by varying the reference temperature and the sample diameter, the growth interface and the composition of the grown crystal can be controlled by controlling the natural convection in the melt.

Keywords: natural convection; InGaSb; interface shape; solution growth; crystal growth; melt.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2005.005763

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2005 Vol.22 No.1/2/3, pp.172 - 184

Published online: 30 Nov 2004 *

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