Publications Details
In situ reflectance and virtual interface analysis for compound semiconductor process control
The authors review the use of in-situ normal incidence reflectance, combined with a virtual interface model, to monitor and control the growth of complex compound semiconductor devices. The technique is being used routinely on both commercial and research metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactors and in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to measure growth rates and high temperature optical constants of compound semiconductor alloys. The virtual interface approach allows one to extract the calibration information in an automated way without having to estimate the thickness or optical constants of the alloy, and without having to model underlying thin film layers. The method has been used in a variety of data analysis applications collectively referred to as ADVISOR (Analysis of Deposition using Virtual Interfaces and Spectroscopic Optical Reflectance). This very simple and robust monitor and ADVISOR method provides one with the equivalent of a real-time reflection high energy electron reflectance (RHEED) tool for both MBE and MOCVD applications.