An overview of gallium nitride growth chemistry and its effect on reactor design: Application to a planetary radial-flow CVD system

In this paper, gallium nitride (GaN) growth chemistry is characterized by two competing reaction pathways. An overview of GaN gas-phase and surface-phase chemistry is used to generate a comprehensive model for epitaxial GaN growth from the commonly used precursors, trimethylgallium ((CH3)3Ga) and ammonia (NH3). The role of reactor geometry in controlling the selectivity among the competing reaction pathways is explored in the context of a planetary radial-flow CVD system. Finally, application of a geometrically based uniformity criterion is presented for film uniformity optimization.