Matheson Unveils High-Mobility Phosphine
PARSIPPANY, NJ. Matheson Tri-Gas today introduced a new grade of phosphine especially manufactured for the compound semiconductor epitaxy market. Called "Ultima PH3*", this ultra-pure phosphine is manufactured at Matheson s new hydride gas plant in New Johnsonville, Tennessee.
The manufacturing process for Ultima PH3 is built on technology originally developed by Matheson s parent company, Nippon Sanso Corporation (NSC). NSC produces "Superphosphine" a top-grade phosphine widely used throughout the compound semiconductor industry in Japan and Taiwan but unavailable in the US or Europe. After bringing the process to the US, scientists at Matheson s Advanced Technology Center made additional improvements to NSC s basic technology that have been implemented in the Ultima PH3 process. Ultima PH3 will also be available in the Asia market through NSC and in the European market through Messer Nippon Sanso.
The quality of Ultima PH3 was performance tested in a study of InP epitaxy conducted with Ed Gagnon and coworkers at Bandwidth Technology in Bedford, MA. In a series of OMVPE growths of 9-mm undoped InP on InP, Gagnon s group was able to achieve a mobility of 287,000 cm2 V-1 s-1 at 77oK. This value exceeds the industry benchmark of 264,000 cm2 V-1 s-1 cited in Professor G. B. Stringfellow s book, "Organometallic Vapor Phase Epitaxy 2nd Edition." (Academic Press, Inc. 1999), and approaches the all-time record of 305,000 cm2 V-1 s-1 set by Dr. T. Thrush s group in 1987. (Chemtronics 2, 67 (1987))
"The average mobility of InP produced with Ultima PH3 is over 30% higher than the average InP results with our standard electronic grade phosphine," said Dr. Virginia Houlding, technical director at Matheson s Advanced Technology Center. "At this point we know we have made substantial improvements in the levels of moisture and oxygen-containing impurities, but we suspect that the increased performance is also due to removal of trace impurities that are electrically active."
In addition to the phosphine quality, the quality of the TMI is also critical to achieving super-high electrical mobility in OMVPE InP. The Bandwidth results were achieved with Opto-GradeTM TMI from Shipley. Currently, Matheson and Shipley are pursuing a joint investigation to correlate trace metal and dopant impurities in Group III and Group V sources using InP mobility as one of the analytical tools.
"This milestone could be a key to more reliable high-speed InP devices," said Bill Kroll, executive vice president for Matheson. "We are excited to be at the forefront of developments and we will continue our efforts in similar ways to continuously improve the gas related materials and equipment related products that enable their use. We are committed to providing a total solutions approach that surrounds both OMVPE and CBE/GS-MBE tools," Kroll added.
Matheson Tri-Gas is a single source provider of specialty gases, bulk gases, gas handling equipment, purification systems and support services to semiconductor manufacturers worldwide. Semi-Gas Division core competencies include its ULTRA-LINE* cylinders for high purity process gases, SDS® (Safe Delivery Source), Semi-Gas* Systems brand of gas handling equipment, NANOCHEM* brand of purification systems, customer technical services, systems engineering and site management services. Matheson Tri-Gas corporate headquarters is in Parsippany, New Jersey. The Semi-Gas Division is located in San Jose, California. Additional information can be found on Matheson Tri-Gas web site at www.Matheson-trigas.com.
Contact:
Brenda Kennedy
Marketing Communications Manager
Matheson Tri-Gas
408-971-6500 x270
bkennedy@matheson-trigas.com
www.matheson-trigas.com
Marketing Communications Manager
Matheson Tri-Gas
408-971-6500 x270
bkennedy@matheson-trigas.com
www.matheson-trigas.com
E-mail: bkennedy@matheson-trigas.com
Web site: http://www.matheson-trigas.com
