Growth of AlN by vectored flow epitaxy

The growth of AlN using ammonia and trimethylaluminium is reported using a novel technique, vectored flow epitaxy. The reactor is designed to pre-crack the ammonia, run at atmospheric pressure and keep the precursors spatially separated to avoid the gas-phase interaction that can lead to an involatile adduct. These three innovations have allowed the growth of high-quality AlN at over 2 μm/h with a V/III ratio of only 50:1 at very high group III efficiencies. The precursor separation also leads to a dust-free environment with no appreciable filter load even after the growth of 100 μm of material.