Growth and diffusion of abrupt beryllium-doped profiles in gallium arsenide by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy

Abstract
We have grown abrupt beryllium-doped profiles in gallium arsenide by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy. Secondary-ion mass spectroscopy is used to study the annealing behavior of profiles with beryllium concentrations of 2×1018 cm−3. The diffusion fronts are non-Gaussian and abrupt. Estimates of the diffusion coefficient of beryllium in gallium arsenide are obtained assuming a quadratic dependence on concentration. The beryllium diffusion coefficient is approximately 10−15 cm2/s at 825 °C and is at least an order of magnitude less than that reported for zinc profiles grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy. In addition, we have also observed anomalous surface tailing during growth which is very similar to that reported during beryllium doping by molecular beam epitaxy.