Selective Area Metal–Organic Vapor Phase Epitaxy of Nitride Semiconductors for Multicolor Emission

Selective area metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (SA-MOVPE) allows in-plane control of emission wavelength by tailored width of masks. For InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs), modulation of luminescence wavelength was achieved based on a balance between vapor-phase diffusion of group-III precursors and their surface incorporation. For the basic understanding of the SA-MOVPE of nitride semiconductors, thickness profiles of GaN, InN, AlN, and InGaN layers around relatively wide (>10 mum) masks were investigated. The effective lateral diffusion length D/k_s, which is the ratio of the vapor-phase mass diffusivity of a precursor to its surface incorporation rate constant, was extracted for GaN and InN. The value was much larger for InN due to smaller surface incorporation rate. In the SA-MOVPE of InGaN bulk layer at around 800degC, indium incorporation rate seems to be limited by the surface flux of a gallium precursor, resulting in no variation in the indium content. Varied width of the InGaN wells by the existence of masks seems to govern the shift in the luminescence wavelength from InGaN/GaN MQWs. Therefore, design of the thickness distribution of GaN based on the quantitative model is essential to the controlled in-plane color modulation of solid-state lighting devices using SA-MOVPE.