Selective Growth of GaP Crystals on CMOS-Compatible Si Nanotip Wafers by Gas Source Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Cryst Growth Des. 2024 Mar 20;24(7):2724-2733. doi: 10.1021/acs.cgd.3c01337. eCollection 2024 Apr 3.

Abstract

Gallium phosphide (GaP) is a III-V semiconductor with remarkable optoelectronic properties, and it has almost the same lattice constant as silicon (Si). However, to date, the monolithic and large-scale integration of GaP devices with silicon remains challenging. In this study, we present a nanoheteroepitaxy approach using gas-source molecular-beam epitaxy for selective growth of GaP islands on Si nanotips, which were fabricated using complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology on a 200 mm n-type Si(001) wafer. Our results show that GaP islands with sizes on the order of hundreds of nanometers can be successfully grown on CMOS-compatible wafers. These islands exhibit a zinc-blende phase and possess optoelectronic properties similar to those of a high-quality epitaxial GaP layer. This result marks a notable advancement in the seamless integration of GaP-based devices with high scalability into Si nanotechnology and integrated optoelectronics.