Vapor Phase Epitaxy of InGaP under Microgravity in Space Flyer Unit

Abstract

A vapor phase epitaxy of InGaP single crystal on GaP in a closed ampule using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been studied under microgravity (µ-g) in a gradient heating furnace (GHF) loaded in space flyer unit (SFU). The targets of the flight experiments are (i) to improve uniformity of the crystal, and (ii) to obtain new knowledge about the gas transport and crystal growth mechanism. The crystals grown under µ-g were demonstrated to have an excellent uniformity of the layer thickness and matrix element content by suppression of the convection. It has also been proved that under microgravity the tranport rate follows simple diffusion theory even in the vapor phase growth with chemical reactions.