Addition of hydrogen and/or nitrogen containing compounds to the nitrogen-containing solvent used during the ammonothermal growth of group-iii nitride crystals
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsSiddha Pimputkar, Derrick S. Kamber, James S. Speck, Shuji Nakamura
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Abstract
A method for adding hydrogen-containing and/or nitrogen-containing compounds to a nitrogen-containing solvent used during ammonothermal growth of group-Ill nitride crystals to offset decomposition products formed from the nitrogen-containing solvent, in order to shift the balance between the reactants, i.e. the nitrogen-containing solvent and the decomposition products, towards the reactant side.
Claims15
A method for ammonothermally growing one or more group-III nitride crystals in a vessel, comprising:
- using a nitrogen-containing solvent to dissolve and transport one or more group-III-containing source materials to one or more group-III nitride seed crystals, wherein one or more decomposition products form during one or more decomposition reactions of the nitrogen-containing solvent;
- growing the group-III nitride crystals on the seed crystals using the dissolved source materials;
- and
- adding one or more hydrogen-containing and one or more nitrogen-containing compounds to the vessel, or adding one or more hydrogen-containing compounds or one or more nitrogen-containing compounds to the vessel, during or before the growing step, wherein the hydrogen-containing and the nitrogen-containing compounds, or the hydrogen-containing compounds or the nitrogen-containing compounds affect equilibrium of the decomposition reactions of the solvent.
A method of fabricating a group-III nitride crystal in a closed vessel, comprising:
- adding a hydrogen-containing and a nitrogen-containing compound, or adding the hydrogen-containing compound or the nitrogen-containing compound, to a nitrogen-containing solvent used with group-III-containing source materials during ammonothermal growth of the group-III nitride crystal on one or more group-III seed crystals, to offset decomposition of the nitrogen-containing solvent and mass loss due to diffusion of hydrogen out of the closed vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.