Laser-initiated reactivity in constrained gas expansions using trimethylgallium and ammonia as precursors

The present work combines pulsed lasers and nozzles in order to form GaN-containing species by using metalorganic compounds as precursors. The apparatus consists of a high-vacuum chamber equipped with a specialized dual-source pulsed-nozzle assembly and a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS). Ammonia and trimethylgallium are introduced into the high-vacuum chamber via the nozzle assembly. The 193 nm output from an ArF excimer laser is focused into the mixing and reaction region of the nozzle assembly. Reaction products are subsequently mass-analyzed with the QMS and show efficient production of simple GaN-containing species due to laser-assisted growth.