Akzo Nobel, Epiworks team up on liquid sources
Source material supplier Akzo Nobel High Purity Metalorganics (AN-HPMO) and epiwafer manufacturer Epiworks have joined forces to investigate the potential of liquid-phase metalorganics in MOCVD.
The companies are focusing on 650-680nm laser designs, chosen for their application in consumer products, specifically DVD recorders. Such devices are normally made using gases as the source of Group V elements. The collaborative effort will aim to compare directly the material and device quality produced using both types of source.
Akzo and Epiworks say that the materials which they plan to grow will also be of interest for other LED, laser and solar cell structures that are based on different compositions of AlInGaP and InGaP.
The idea behind the project is to reduce the amount of phosphorus that is produced in the manufacturing process. The two companies believe that using liquid sources of Group V atoms will improve safety, maintenance and process conditions compared with gaseous Group V sources such as arsine and phosphine.
Epiworks president Quesnell Hartmann said: “Red lasers are not only difficult to demonstrate, but they are particularly difficult to manufacture because of the large amount of phosphorus typically generated using phosphine.”
