Liquid-phase epitaxial growth of very thick In1−xGaxAs layers with uniform composition by source-current-controlled method

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Abstract
A source‐current‐controlled method for the continuous supply of solute elements into solutions during growth was developed. In this method, a continuous electric current is passed through a GaAs source material of the solute elements during growth and the source material is dissolved into the growth solution due to Peltier and Joule heating at the interface between the source material and the solution. This method was applied to the liquid‐phase epitaxial growth of In1−xGaxAs on InP. The temperature variation of the solution was directly measured by immersing a thermocouple in the solution and a temperature gradient of more than 6 °C could easily be obtained in the solution between the GaAs source material and the InP substrate. The amount of dissolved GaAs was measured as a function of the current density. Using these results, an optimum growth condition for the continuous supply of solute elements was determined, and an 80‐μm‐thick In0.54Ga0.46As layer with uniform composition (x=0.458±0.002) was obtained.