Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Molecular beam epitaxy system

What is Epitaxy ?
• Epitaxy = “Epi” + “taxis” or upon arrangement
• Epitaxy = the arrangement of atoms on an
ordered substrate
– Liquid Phase Epitaxy (LPE)
– Vapor phase Epitaxy (VPE)
– Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE)
 What is MBE?
“A versatile technique for growing thin epitaxial
structures made of semiconductors, metals or
insulators” defined by Dr. Morton B. Panish
“MBE is a physical evaporation process with no
chemical reaction involved in it” as defined by Dr.
Nandita Dasgupta
Three factors to define MBE technique
• Thermal-energy molecular or atomic beams
• Substrate with elevated temperature
• Ultra-high vacuum environment (p ≤ 1.33x10-7 Pa or
10-9 Torr)- Heart of MBE system
 Introduction to MBE
• MBE can produce high-quality layers with very
abrupt interfaces and good control of
thickness, doping, and composition.

• Because of the high degree of control possible

with MBE, it is a valuable tool in the
development of sophisticated electronic and
optoelectronic devices.

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 Description of MBE
• The constituent elements of a
semiconductor in the form of ‘molecular
beams’ are deposited onto a heated
crystalline substrate to form thin epitaxial
layers.
• The ‘molecular beams’ are typically from
thermally evaporated elemental sources,
but other sources include metal-organic
group III precursors (MOMBE), gaseous
group V hydride or organic precursors
(gas-source MBE), or some combination
(chemical beam epitaxy or CBE).
• To obtain high-purity layers, it is critical
that the material sources be extremely
pure and that the entire process be done
in an ultra-high vacuum environment.
• The growth rates are typically on the
order of a few Å/s and the beams can be
shuttered in a fraction of a second,
allowing for nearly atomically abrupt
transitions from one material to another.

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 Description of MBE (contd.)

• A typical MBE system consists of three main vacuum chambers: a growth chamber, a
buffer chamber, and a load lock.
• The load lock is used to bring samples into and out of the vacuum environment while
maintaining the vacuum integrity of the other chambers.
• The buffer chamber is used for preparation and storage of samples, but other systems
have buffer chambers equipped for material characterization as well.
• The growth chamber is where the actual deposition take place and it includes several
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subsystems.
 Instrumentation of MBE
• Effusion cells-Dopant cell
• Shutters-Controlled by microprocessors
• Substrate holder
• Substrate temp-400-800 °C
• Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED)-
Assessing the crystal quality or surface quality of the
epitaxial layer as it is growing at a grazing angle of 1°.
• Vacuum Pumps
Growth Chamber

Loading from
Buffer into the
growth chamber.
Then the
manipulator is
flipped.

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 Growth Chamber (contd.)
• Samples are loaded onto the growth chamber sample holder/heater via a
magnetically coupled transfer rod.
• Before growth, the sample holder is flipped around from the loading position
so that the sample faces the material sources.
• For improved layer uniformity, the sample holder is designed for continual
azimuthal rotation of the sample, and is thus commonly termed the ‘CAR’.
• The CAR also has an ion gauge mounted on the side opposite the sample which
can read the chamber pressure, or be placed facing the sources to measure
beam equivalent pressure (BEP) of the material sources.
• A liquid nitrogen cooled cryo-shroud is located between the chamber walls and
the CAR and acts as an effective pump for many of the residual gasses in the
chamber.
• The substrate holder and all other parts that are heated are made of materials
such as Ta, Mo, and pyrolytic boron nitride (PBN) which do not decompose or
outgas impurities even when heated to 1400ºC.
• To monitor the residual gasses, analyze the source beams, and check for leaks,
a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) is mounted in the vicinity of the CAR.

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 Growth Chamber (contd.)
• The material sources, or effusions cells, are independently heated
until the desired material flux is achieved.
• Changes in the temperature of a cell as small as 0.5ºC can lead to flux
changes on the order of one percent.
• To control thicknesses to about 1%, highly stable control loops with
Tungsten-Rhenium thermocouples and proportion, integral, and
derivative (PID) controllers are used as well as a chilled panel
separating the cells to prevent thermal crosstalk.
• Computer controlled shutters are positioned in front of each of the
effusion cells to be able to shutter the flux reaching the sample
within a fraction of a second.
• The sources in the MBE systems are located approximately 10 cm
from the sample in the growth position.

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Effusion source capabilities

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 Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
• Low temperature process as compared to VPE which
minimizes autodoping
• Precise control of doping
• Growth rate can be precisely controlled – 0.1-0.3
μm/min
• Enables growth of lattice mismatched structures.
Disadvantages
• Very costly and sophisticated/complicated system
 Applications
• Growth of semiconductor nanostructures-
quantum wells, wires and dots
• Modulation doped heterostructures
• Growth of ternary and quaternary
semiconductor heterostructures