Abstract:
An improved heterojunction transistor and a method of fabricating the same is provided. The device is comprised of liquid phase epitaxially grown binary compound layers of group IIIA-VB semiconductor materials which serve as collector and base regions and of a ternary compound layer of group IIIA-VB semiconductor material which serves as the heterojunction emitter.
Abstract:
Semiconductor ternary compounds are prepared by liquid phase epitaxy by using control of the cooling rate to control the crystalline composition. In particular, Ga1 xAlxAs is grown on a GaAs substrate and has a homogeneous composition. This is accomplished by cooling a melt of Ga and Al saturated with GaAs in Al2O3 crucible using a single crystalline wafer of GaAs as the substrate. Critical parameters are an excess of GaAs, the Al/Ga ratio, the growth temperature, and the cooling rate. Electroluminescent diodes made from the Ga1 xAlxAs have relatively high quantum efficiencies, e.g., 3.3 percent when emitting light of energy 1.70 electron volts through an epoxy dome with a matching index of refraction. Illustratively, for the electroluminescent diodes with 3.3 percent quantum efficiency, exemplary parameters included a melt composition of 20 grams of Ga, 50 milligrams of Al, growth rate of 1*C per minute over a temperature range of 950*C to 920*C for n-type dopant of 5 milligrams of Te and an additional 50 milligrams of Zn from 920*C to 860*C for counter doping to ptype. Further, a GaAs - Ga1 xAlxAs heterojunction is obtained if the cooling rate is changed abruptly from 1*C per minute to greater than 10*C per minute.