Incorporation of Sn into epitaxial GaAs grown from the liquid phase

Abstract

The incorporation of Sn into LPE GaAs was studied as a function of the atomic fractionx ^l_Sn of Sn in the liquid (1.6×10⁻⁴≤x ^l_Sn ≤0.54), the growth temperatureT _K and the cooling rate α. The diffusion coefficient of As in Ga for moderate Sn-doping was deduced from the growth velocities to beD _As (760° C)=(3.3±1.0)×10⁻⁵ cm²/s. The epitaxial layers were analyzed after van der Pauw with special emphasis on the sources of experimental error. With the aid of current mobility theories the concentrations of the ionized donors and acceptors were derived. From their dependence onx ^l_Sn , on α and onT _K combined with the Schottky-barrier model of Sn incorporation it can be concluded that the melt and the growing crystal surface were in thermal equilibrium. The diffusion coefficient of Sn in GaAs is about 8×10⁻¹⁴ cm²/s at 760° C. The distribution coefficient for Sn increases from 4.4×10⁻⁵ to 12.3×10⁻⁵ in the temperature range from 690 to 800° C. The total Sn incorporationx ^s_Sn was measured using the atomic absorption spectroscopy for the first time down tox ^s_Sn =10¹⁷/cm³. From these data it can be concluded that up tox ^l_Sn =0.54 the dopant Sn is incorporated as donor and as acceptor only and that within the experimental scatter there is no indication of incorporation as a neutral species.