British Telecommunications Corporation

Agilent Technologies, Inc.

British Telecommunications Public Limited Company

The Post Office

Rodney H Moss

Marc M Faktor

Paul C Spurdens

Donald C Bradley

John Haigh

John Stephen Massa

Dario M Frigo

Adrian John Taylor

An oxide layer on an indium phosphide semiconductor substrate is doped with silicon. This enables epitaxial layers to be deposited upon the substrate in a conventional manner, including mesa etching and overgrowth, to form a semiconductor structure. The doped oxide layer is thought to reduce diffusion of phosphorus out of the substrate and thus to reduce the zinc levels in the active region of the structure. Additionally, or as an alternative, after mesa etching oxide can be formed on the mesa sides and then doped with silicon. Conventional blocking layers can then be formed over the doped oxide, reducing the diffusion of zinc from the blocking layers into the rest of the structure.

Semiconductor substrates and structures

A method of providing a reagent into a chemical process said provision being in the vapor phase and at a controlled mass flow rate wherein the method comprises:

Reagent source

A method for the growth of a semi-conductor material on a substrate by vapour phase epitaxy, comprises establishing a gas flow in each of a plurality of ducts, and moving the substrate, in a single plane of movement, from one duct to another. Suitable apparatus for use in the method comprises a plurality of ducts; apparatus for establishing a gas flow along each duct; a substrate support member, on which there may be a groove for the location of a substrate; and apparatus for moving, e.g. rotating, the support member. In use, the substrate is exposed sequentially to at least two of the gas flows, e.g. to grow GaInAs on InP.

Growth of semi-conductors and apparatus for use therein

A method of depositing a group III element--group V element compound or alloy on a hot substrate using a metal organic chemical vapor deposition procedure. Attempts to apply an MOCVD procedure to the production of a group III element--group V element compound from alkyl derivatives of group III elements which are strong Lewis acids and group V element hydrides have met with limited success. This is because the reactants react in the cold gas phase to form an involatile polymer which does not give the required product on the hot substrate. The present invention proposes modifying the alkyl derivative of the group III element to be a weaker Lewis acid. This can be achieved by either substituting an electron donating group for one of the alkyl groups bonded to the group III element or by combining the group III element alkyl derivative with an alkyl derivative of a group V element thereby forming a volatile compound. Both the substituted alkyl derivative of the group III element and the volatile alkylated group III-V compound give the required product when used in admixture with a group V element hydride in an MOCVD process.

Metal organic vapor deposition procedure for preparing group III--V

Semiconductor compounds which are alloys of group III-V compounds are grown by a liquid phase epitaxy method which includes heating growth apparatus in a reducing atmosphere while maintaining a solvent for the compound, a source of the group III-V compound and another element of the alloy separate from each other. After heating to reduce oxides, the element is added to the solvent, the source is brought into contact with the solvent and the resulting solution is brought into contact with a substrate to effect growth of the compound. Apparatus for carrying out the method is also described.

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Felixstowe, United Kingdom

Rodney H Moss