Modeling halogen chemical vapor deposition for III-V semiconductor compounds

Halogen chemical vapor deposition is a well-developed technique widely used for growing semiconductors, in which the best growing conditions are obtained on an empirical way. From the theoretical point of view, most of the time the developed models are too complex and not accurate enough to correctly adjust the experimental results. Here, we present a general model to explain the epitaxial growth kinetics of III-V semiconductor materials by halogen chemical vapor deposition. The model considers one reversible chemical reaction between the transporting gas and the III element at its reservoir, and the same reaction at the substrate surface. This means that the reaction producing the volatile compounds that transport the III element from its reservoir to the substrate is active at the substrate surface as well. However, the model considers that the III element might have a different chemical activity at each one of those surfaces. The proposed model correctly explains experimental results reported in the literature on different III-V materials, by different laboratories, over decades.