Hydrogen diffusion barrier for hybrid semiconductor growth
AssigneeArray Photonics, Inc.
InventorsAYMERIC MAROS, FERRAN SUAREZ, JACOB THORP, MICHAEL SHELDON, TING LIU
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Abstract
Semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating semiconductor devices having a dilute nitride active layer and at least one semiconductor material overlying the dilute nitride active layer are disclosed. Hybrid epitaxial growth and the use of hydrogen diffusion barrier layers to minimize hydrogen diffusion into the dilute nitride active layer are used to fabricate high-efficiency multijunction solar cells and photonic devices. Hydrogen diffusion barriers can be formed through the use of layer thickness, composition, doping and/or strain.
Claims23
A semiconductor device comprising:
- a dilute nitride active layer, wherein the dilute nitride active layer comprises:
- a dilute nitride material selected from GaNAs, GaInNAs, GaInNAsSb, GaInNAsBi, GaInNAsSbBi, GaNAsSb, GaNAsBi, and GaNAsSbBi;
- a background doping concentration less than 5×1016 cm−3;
- and
- a hydrogen-induced defect density less than the background doping density;
- a hydrogen diffusion barrier region overlying the dilute nitride active layer, wherein the hydrogen diffusion barrier region comprises a doped semiconductor layer, a dilute nitride semiconductor layer, a strained semiconductor layer, or a combination of any of the foregoing;
- and
- one or more semiconductor layers overlying the hydrogen diffusion barrier region.
A method of fabricating a semiconductor device comprising a dilute nitride active layer, comprising:
- growing a dilute nitride active layer overlying a substrate using molecular beam epitaxy;
- growing a hydrogen diffusion barrier region overlying the dilute nitride active layer using molecular beam epitaxy;
- thermally annealing the substrate, the dilute nitride active layer, and the hydrogen diffusion barrier region;
- and
- growing a semiconductor layer adjacent the thermally annealed hydrogen diffusion barrier region using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.