Liquid Phase Epitaxial Regrowth in the GaInAsP System.

Using In sub (1-x)Sn sub x melts saturated with InP, the P overpressure used to protect InP from thermal decomposition during heat-treatment prior to growth can be adjusted and optimized. The achievement of uniform, defect free growth on the difficult to wet {111} sub In plane of InP is shown to be a sensitive measure of the correct P overpressure. Using simultaneous growth from two independent melts it is shown that quaternary GaInAsP of any lattice matched composition gives superior growth on InP compared to InP growth under the same conditions. For regrowth on quaternaries, care must be taken in the P source design so that there is no line of sight direct path from the source to the substrate. This would permit spattering of micron size source particles that wet and migrate on the quaternary surface giving large local defects in subsequent growth.