Use of Surfactants to Control Unintentional Dopant Incorporation in Semiconductors

The surface properties of semiconductors can be controlled by the use of surfactants. Our technology shows the use of surfactants that lead to a decrease in concentration of harmful impurities incorporated into the semiconductors during the organometallic vapor phase epitaxial growth. In particular, Sb and Bi are shown to reduce the concentration of carbon and oxygen in GaP and GaIN layers.

Benefits
Carbon and oxygen, as dopants in semiconductor industry, have been identified as having harmful properties and result in poor device performance. The reduction of these dopants using alternative techniques such as MBE cause significant problems with properties of the resultant materials. This technology constitutes an easy and simple method for controlling and improving surface properties of semiconductor materials. It has a potential use in improving the properties of materials used in the manufacture of devices such as light emitting devices, solar cells and lasers.

Stage of Development
A provisional patent has been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
This technology has been demonstrated to work in proof-of-concept experiments. It is available for developmental research support/licensing under either exclusive or non-exclusive terms.

Additional Info
*J.K. Shurtleff, S.W. Jun, and G. B. Stringfellow, �Surfactant effects on doping of GaAs grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy�, Appl Phys Lett, 78(20), 3038-3040, 2001.
*F. Dimroth, A. Howard, J. K. Shurtleff, G. B. Stringfellow, � Influence of Sb, Bi, Tl, and B on the incorporation of N in GaAs� J Appl Phys, 91(6), 3687-3692, 2001.

Inventor(s): David Chapman, Gerald Stringfellow, Alexander Howard

Type of Offer: Licensing



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