Chemical Vapor Deposition of Heteroepitaxial Boron Phosphide Thin Films
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 12-2013 Chemical Vapor Deposition of Heteroepitaxial Boron Phosphide Thin Films John Daniel Brasfield University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Semiconductor and Optical Materials Commons Recommended Citation Brasfield, John Daniel, "Chemical aporV Deposition of Heteroepitaxial Boron Phosphide Thin Films. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2013. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2558 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by John Daniel Brasfield entitled "Chemical Vapor Deposition of Heteroepitaxial Boron Phosphide Thin Films." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Chemistry. Charles S. Feigerle, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Laurence Miller, Frank Vogt, Ziling Xue Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Chemical Vapor Deposition of Heteroepitaxial Boron Phosphide Thin Films A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville John Daniel Brasfield December 2013 Copyright © 2013 by John Daniel Brasfield All rights reserved. ii DEDICATION To my Family, Chase, Macie, and Hadley. For support and encouragement throughout this process… iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without a number of individuals each contributing in their own unique way. First, I would like to thank Dr. Feigerle for your patience, guidance and tutelage throughout the process. Your calm approach to problem solving has taught me that success takes time and is worth the wait. I would also like to thank Dr. Miller agreeing to serve on my committee. I would like to acknowledge the rest my committee members, Dr. Xue and Dr. Vogt for taking time to be a part of this research. Additional thanks goes to the supportive members of my research group. Thank you, Dr. Julia Abbott for toiling away in the lab and for the invaluable XRD analysis that shaped the project. Thank you to Eric Barrowclough for his work with Autocad and never ending encouragement and Stephen Gibson for his Mass Spectroscopy of weirdness of the process. Thanks to Alexis Dale for her dedication and courage to take on the this project. I would also like to thank my project collaborators in the Materials Science and Engineering Department for their research support. Many thanks to Dr. Gerd Duscher and Guloinag Li for their spectacular TEM analysis. Without out the wonderful images, progress would not have been possible. Acknowledgements go to Dr. Joo Hyon Noh for fabrication of the heterostructures and Dr. Eric Lukosi for useful consultation. From Y-12, thanks to Dr. Jonathan Morrell for your support and encouragement to pursue this degree. Many thanks to the rest of the members from the Compatibility and Surveillance section for their kindness and willingness to help when needed. Thanks to the Y-12 PDRD program for financial support of this project. My family played an integral role in my willingness to pursue a Ph.D. Thanks to my wife Chase for pushing me to work hard and get this done. Without you by my side, this would not have been accomplished. Thanks to my parents Robert and Judy Brasfield for teaching me the value of hard work and fostering a lifetime love of learning, to you both I am forever grateful. I would like to thank David Beach for his scientific guidance throughout this process. You were always there to answer the tough questions and point me in the right direction. Thanks for the support and believing that I could succeed in novel materials research. Finally, I would like to thank the DOE office of Nonproliferation Verification and Research for funding my research at Y-12 and the University of Tennessee for the past five years. iv ABSTRACT Boron monophosphide (BP) is a group III-V compound semiconductor with a wide band gap of 2.3 eV. Its unique electrical properties make it a promising material for use as a room temperature thermal neutron detector and thermoelectric device in high temperature and radiation fields. A thin film of BP enriched in the boron- 10 isotope can yield 2.8MeV of energy, which in solid- state BP can yield 0.5 million electron-hole pairs that would be detectable with minimal amplification in a device. The high carrier concentration, wide band gap, inertness and refractory nature make it an attractive∼ material for use in the extreme environments of nuclear reactors. The main drawback to BP is the difficulty in synthesizing high quality thin films. The majority of the previous work on BP was performed on Si substrates. The high lattice mismatch between Si and BP incorporates strain in the BP film which causes varying defects and charge traps to be introduced, adversely affecting electrical performance. It is the purpose of this work to identify the parameters necessary to deposit highly ordered zincblende boron phosphide (BP) thin films on 4° off-axis C-face 4H-SiC(0001) substrates by chemical vapor deposition. SiC only has a 4% lattice mismatch from BP, which could greatly reduce the inherent strain from heteroepitaxial growth. Ultra high purity diborane and phosphine are used as reactive precursors, with hydrogen as the carrier gas. Conditions necessary for high quality BP thin films will be explored. SEM, XRD, TEM and Raman spectroscopy are used to characterize the BP films and identify the temperature, phosphine to diborane flow rate ratios, SiC wafer termination and wafer surface preparation to elucidate optimum BP thin films for eventual device fabrication. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 Semiconductors ............................................................................................................... 1 Boron Phosphide ............................................................................................................. 9 Physical Characteristics .............................................................................................. 9 Chemical Characteristics .......................................................................................... 12 Semiconductor Behavior ........................................................................................... 12 Early Synthesis.......................................................................................................... 13 Modern Synthesis...................................................................................................... 14 Applications of Boron Phosphide ................................................................................. 18 Neutron Detectors ..................................................................................................... 18 IR Coatings ............................................................................................................... 22 Thermoelectric Devices ............................................................................................ 23 Substrate Selection ........................................................................................................ 28 Silicon ....................................................................................................................... 29 Silicon Carbide.......................................................................................................... 32 Wafers ....................................................................................................................... 38 Summary ................................................................................................................... 41 CHAPTER II Reactor Design ........................................................................................... 43 Background ................................................................................................................... 43 CVD Reactor Components ........................................................................................... 46 Vacuum System, Components and Pumping ............................................................ 48 Gas Handling, Flow and Pressure Control ................................................................ 52 RF Heating and Susceptor Design ............................................................................ 60 Susceptor Temperature Measurement ....................................................................... 68 Safety Measures ........................................................................................................ 72 Function Testing ....................................................................................................... 79 BP Characterization Techniques ..................................................................................