Method for efficiently adjusting strain of antimonide laser functional layer
By growing multiple AlGa(In)AsSb materials with different As pressures and thicknesses on the same test piece and analyzing the XRD data, the strain of the functional layer of the antimonide laser was efficiently adjusted, solving the problems of long time consumption and low efficiency in the existing technology, and improving crystal quality and production efficiency.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202511654902.1
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-11-12
- Publication Date
- 2026-02-03
AI Technical Summary
Existing technologies for adjusting the strain of the functional layer in antimonide lasers involve numerous steps, are time-consuming, and inefficient, making it difficult to precisely control the strain within 150 arcseconds, which leads to a decrease in crystal quality.
Multilayer AlGa(In)AsSb materials with different As pressures and thicknesses were grown on the same test piece. The strain values were obtained by XRD data analysis, and the As pressure at zero strain was obtained by interpolation, which simplified the growth process.
The efficiency of strain regulation has been improved, shortening the time from 24 hours to 3-6 hours, saving process time and raw materials, and improving crystal quality.
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Figure CN121452974A_ABST
Abstract
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of lasers, in particular to a method for efficiently adjusting strain of a functional layer of an antimonide laser. BACKGROUND
[0002] The rapid development of high-tech such as optical communication, quantum information, artificial intelligence, etc. promotes the fourth generation of semiconductor technology to high performance, low power consumption and low cost, and also promotes the development of new generation of semiconductor materials. The antimonide semiconductor material system composed of multi-component materials and low-dimensional structures based on Al, Ga, In, As, Sb and other group III-V elements is one of the most promising fourth generation semiconductor materials. Based on its narrow band gap, natural lattice matching and adjustable energy band, antimonide semiconductor materials will play a great application value in the development of the next generation of infrared optoelectronic systems.
[0003] As one of the important infrared optoelectronic devices, through the breakthroughs in energy band structure design, material epitaxial growth, device preparation process, etc., high-performance antimonide quantum well lasers with large power and single mode have been realized at room temperature, and the wavelength can completely cover the short-wave infrared to mid-infrared band, showing great application potential in high-precision gas sensing, environmental monitoring, non-invasive medical diagnosis and free-space communication.
[0004] At present, for 2-3um band semiconductor lasers, the classical InGa(As)Sb-AlGa(In)AsSb I-type strained quantum well shows certain advantages. The device structure of the laser is grown by advanced compound molecular beam epitaxy technology. It takes InGa(As)Sb as the quantum well, low Al component AlGa(In)AsSb as the quantum barrier and waveguide layer, and high Al component AlGa(In)AsSb as the confinement layer, so as to realize the double binding of light and electricity to ensure high-quality laser emission. Generally, the thickness of AlGa(In)AsSb is large, the thickness of low Al component AlGa(In)AsSb is 300-1000nm, and the thickness of high Al component AlGa(In)AsSb is 3-5um, so it is necessary to finely control the strain within 150 angular seconds to ensure that the epitaxial film thickness is within the critical thickness to avoid the problem of serious decrease of crystal quality caused by relaxation. This is one of the key points of growing high-quality I-type strained quantum well lasers by molecular beam epitaxy technology.
[0005] Generally, the strain of AlGa(In)AsSb is achieved by adjusting the component of As, and the component of As is determined by the As pressure during growth (in the case of a fixed Sb pressure). The specific strain adjustment process is as follows: select an As pressure, grow a furnace of AlGa(In)AsSb material, take out after growth and measure high-resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD) to obtain the specific strain condition; according to the strain data of this test, select a second As pressure, grow a second furnace of AlGa(In)AsSb, and then perform XRD test again; repeat the above steps until the strain is controlled within 150 angular seconds. Generally, for one component of AlGa(In)AsSb, 3-8 test pieces are grown to obtain low-strain AlGa(In)AsSb material; and each test piece growth includes beam current measurement, disk transmission, temperature rise and deoxidation, growth of GaSb buffer layer, growth of AlGa(In)AsSb thin film, temperature reduction, disk transmission and other processes, which are time-consuming, low in efficiency and uneconomical. SUMMARY
[0006] To solve the above technical problems, the application provides a method for efficiently adjusting the strain of a functional layer of an antimonide laser.
[0007] The technical scheme adopted by the application is as follows: a method for efficiently adjusting the strain of a functional layer of an antimonide laser, comprising the following steps: Step 1: growing 3 or more kinds of AlGa(In)AsSb materials with different As pressures and different thicknesses on the same test piece in sequence to obtain a strain test structure; Step 2: taking out the strain test structure of the AlGa(In)AsSb materials with different As pressures and different thicknesses grown in step 1, measuring the high-resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD) data thereof, and then obtaining the strain values of the AlGa(In)AsSb materials under different As pressures by analyzing the XRD data; Step 3: obtaining the As pressure under zero strain of the AlGa(In)AsSb material by interpolation.
[0008] Further, the test piece in step 1 is a GaSb substrate, and a buffer layer is grown by homoepitaxy after deoxidization of the GaSb substrate, and then a plurality of AlGa(In)AsSb materials are grown.
[0009] Further, the process of growing a plurality of AlGa(In)AsSb materials on the same test piece is to fix the components of Al and Ga(In), and then change the component of As to obtain AlGa(In)AsSb materials with different As components.
[0010] Further, the thicknesses of the AlGa(In)AsSb materials grown from bottom to top are increasing. Further, the thicknesses of the AlGa(In)AsSb materials grown from bottom to top are increasing.
[0011] Further, the As pressure is monotonously changed during the growth.
[0012] Further, the As pressure is monotonously increased or monotonously decreased during the growth.
[0013] Further, the step of sequentially growing AlGa(In)AsSb materials with different As pressures and different thicknesses in step 1 is as follows: growing AlGa(In)AsSb with the first thickness under the As pressure a1 x1 Sb 1-x1 keeping the antimony wetting while changing the As pressure a2 after the growth, and then growing AlGa(In)AsSb with the second thickness under the As pressure a2 x2 Sb 1-x2 repeating the above steps to sequentially grow the remaining AlGa(In)AsSb materials under different As pressures xn Sb 1-xn .
[0014] Further, in step 3, the strain and the As pressure obtained in step 2 are plotted on the same graph, and then the As pressure under zero strain of the AlGa(In)AsSb material is obtained by interpolation.
[0015] Further, the error of the As under zero strain is ±100 arc seconds.
[0016] Further, in step 2, the intensity in the XRD data and the strain values of the AlGa(In)AsSb material corresponding to different As are matched by analyzing the diffraction data of GaSb near the 004 diffraction peak, and then the strain values of the AlGa(In)AsSb material corresponding to different As pressures are obtained.
[0017] The application has the beneficial effects relative to the prior art: the application grows 3 or more kinds of AlGa(In)AsSb materials with different As pressures and different thicknesses on one test piece, obtains the strain values of the AlGa(In)AsSb material under different As pressures by careful analysis (intensity and peak position) of the XRD data, and obtains the As pressure under zero strain by interpolation. In this way, the adjustment of the AlGa(In)AsSb strain is compressed to 1-2 times of the test piece growth, and the total time is compressed from 24 hours to 3-6 hours, thereby improving the efficiency of process adjustment, saving the process growth time and the use of process raw materials (including substrates and high-purity sources, etc.). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0018] The application will be further described below in combination with the drawings: Figure 1 a schematic diagram of a strain test structure provided for example 1 of the application; Figure 2 a schematic diagram of a strain test structure provided for example 2 of the application;Figure 1 XRD diffraction spectrum of the strain test structure; Figure 3 As Figure 1 Determination of zero strain corresponding to As pressure of the strain test structure in Figure 4 Flow chart of the method of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] As Figures 1 to 4 shown, the present application provides a method for efficiently adjusting the strain of the functional layer of antimonide laser, comprising the following steps: Step 1, growing 3 or more AlGa(In)AsSb materials with different As pressures and different thicknesses on the same test piece in sequence, to obtain a strain test structure; Step 2, taking out the strain test structure of the AlGa(In)AsSb materials with different As pressures and different thicknesses grown in step 1, and measuring the high-resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD) data thereof, and then obtaining the strain values of the AlGa(In)AsSb materials under different As pressures by analyzing the XRD data (intensity and peak position); Step 3, obtaining the As pressure of the AlGa(In)AsSb material under zero strain by interpolation.
[0020] The test piece includes a GaSb substrate and a GaSb buffer layer, and a GaSb cap layer is further grown on the topmost layer after the growth of the multilayer AlGa(In)AsSb material.
[0021] The process of growing the multilayer AlGa(In)AsSb material on the same test piece is to fix the Al and Ga(In) components, and then change the As component to obtain materials with different As components.
[0022] The thickness of the AlGa(In)AsSb material grown from bottom to top in sequence is increasing, and the As pressure is monotonically changing, which can be increasing or decreasing.
[0023] Example 1: Taking the growth of Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As x Sb 1-x as an example to explain the method of the present application in detail.
[0024] Step 1, after completing the deoxidization of the GaSb substrate and the growth of the buffer layer, growing an Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As x1 Sb 1-x1, keep antimony wetting while changing As pressure a2 (As pressure monotonically increasing), then grow 200-250 nm thickness of Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As x2 Sb 1-x2 , keep antimony wetting while changing As pressure a3, grow 300-350 nm thickness of Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As x3 Sb 1-x3 , continue to grow 400-450 nm thickness of Al of As pressure a4 0.5 Ga 0.5 As x4 Sb 1-x4 , regrow 10 nm thickness of GaSb cap layer, cool down and get the strain test structure as shown in Figure 1 .
[0025] Step 2, take out the strain test structure in step 1 to measure XRD, collect diffraction data near GaSb (004) diffraction peak. In the XRD data, the highest intensity is GaSb substrate, and the intensity from 2nd to 5th corresponds to Al 0.5 Ga 0.5 As x Sb 1-x of As pressure a4 to a1 respectively, so that the strain values corresponding to different As pressures can be obtained. As shown in Figure 2 .
[0026] Step 3, plot the strain and As pressure on a graph, as shown in Figure 3 , the As pressure value corresponding to zero strain can be obtained by interpolation.
[0027] In this embodiment, the Al composition range of AlGaAsSb is 0.10-0.90.
[0028] Example 2: Take growing Al 0.7 Ga 0.3 As x Sb 1-x as an example to explain the method of the application in detail.
[0029] Step 1, after completing the deoxidization of GaSb substrate and growing buffer layer, grow 100-150 nm of Al 0.7 Ga 0.3 As x1 Sb 1-x1 , keep antimony wetting while changing As pressure a2 (As pressure monotonically decreasing), then grow 200-250 nm of Al 0.7 Ga0.3 As x2 Sb 1-x2 , after growth, keep antimony wetting and change As pressure a3, grow 300-350nm Al 0.7 Ga 0.3 As x3 Sb 1-x3 , after growth, keep antimony wetting and change As pressure a4, grow 400-450nm Al 0.7 Ga 0.3 As x4 Sb 1-x4 , after growth, keep antimony wetting and change As pressure a5, grow 500-550nm Al 0.7 Ga 0.3 As x5 Sb 1-x5 , grow 10nm GaSb cap layer, cool down, get strain test structure.
[0030] Step 2, take out the strain test structure in step 1 to measure XRD, collect diffraction data near GaSb (004) diffraction peak. In the XRD data, the highest intensity is GaSb substrate, and the intensity from 2 to 6 corresponds to As pressure a1 to a5, so the strain values corresponding to different As pressures can be obtained.
[0031] Step 3, plot strain and As pressure on a graph, and through interpolation, the As pressure value corresponding to zero strain can be obtained.
[0032] The AlGaAsSb grown in the strain test pieces in example 1 and example 2 is not limited to 4 or 5 As components (4 As pressures), and at most 6 can be grown.
[0033] Example 3: take In 0.4 Al 0.6 As x Sb 1-x as an example to explain the method of the present application in detail.
[0034] Step 1, after the substrate is degassed, it is transferred into the growth chamber. After the GaSb substrate is deoxidized and a GaSb buffer layer is grown, 100-200nm In 0.4 Al 0.6 As x1 Sb 1-x1 is grown at As pressure b1, after growth, keep antimony wetting and change As pressure b2 (As pressure needs to change monotonously, continuously increase or continuously decrease), then grow 250-350nm In 0.4 Al 0.6 As x2 Sb 1-x2, keep antimony wetting and change As pressure b3, grow 400-500nm In 0.4 Al 0.6 As x3 Sb 1-x3 , keep antimony wetting and change As pressure b4, grow 550-600nm In 0.4 Al 0.6 As x4 Sb 1-x4 , grow 10nm GaSb cap, cool down, get strain test structure.
[0035] Step 2, take out the strain test structure in step 1 and measure XRD, collect diffraction data near GaSb (004) peak. In XRD data, the highest intensity is GaSb substrate, the intensity of 2 to 5 corresponds to As pressure b4 to b1 respectively, so that the strain value corresponding to different As pressure can be obtained.
[0036] Step 3, draw strain and As pressure on a graph, and through interpolation, the As pressure value corresponding to zero strain can be obtained.
[0037] Example 4: take the growth of quinary material Al 0.2 Ga 0.55 In 0.25 As x Sb 1-x on GaSb substrate as an example.
[0038] Step 1, after the substrate is finished degassing, it is transferred into the growth chamber. After the GaSb substrate is deoxidized and the GaSb buffer layer is grown, 100-150nm Al 0.2 Ga 0.55 In 0.25 As x1 Sb 1-x1 is grown at As pressure c1, after which antimony wetting is maintained while the As pressure c2 is changed (the As pressure needs to be monotonically changed, continuously increased or continuously decreased), and then 200-250nm Al 0.2 Ga 0.55 In 0.25 As x2 Sb 1-x2 is grown at As pressure c2, after which antimony wetting is maintained while the As pressure c3 is changed, and 300-350nm Al 0.2 Ga 0.55 In 0.25 As x3 Sb 1-x3 is grown at As pressure c3, and 400-450nm Al 0.2 Ga 0.55 In 0.25 Asx4 Sb 1-x4 Growth of 10 nm GaSb cap layer, cool down the wafer, get the strain test structure.
[0039] Step 2, take out the strain test structure in step 1 to measure XRD, collect the diffraction data near the GaSb (004) peak. In the XRD data, the highest intensity is the GaSb substrate, and the intensity of the second to fifth corresponds to the As pressure c4 to c1, so the strain value corresponding to different As pressure can be obtained.
[0040] Step 3, draw the strain and As pressure on a graph, and the As pressure value corresponding to zero strain can be obtained by interpolation.
[0041] Finally, it should be noted that: the above examples are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, but not to limit them; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing examples, those skilled in the art should understand that: it can still modify the technical solutions recorded in the foregoing examples, or make equivalent replacement for part or all of the technical features; and these modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.
Claims
1. A method for efficient strain regulation of the functional layer of antimonide lasers, characterized by: The method comprises the following steps: Step 1: growing three or more AlGa(In)AsSb materials with different As pressures and different thicknesses on the same test piece in sequence to obtain a strain test structure; Step 2: taking out the strain test structure of the AlGa(In)AsSb material with different As pressures and different thicknesses grown in step 1, measuring high-resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD) data of the strain test structure, and then obtaining the strain value of the AlGa(In)AsSb material under different As pressures by analyzing the XRD data; Step 3: obtaining the As pressure of the AlGa(In)AsSb material under zero strain by interpolation.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used to tune the strain of a high efficiency antimonide laser functional layer. The test piece in step 1 adopts a GaSb substrate, and a buffer layer is grown by homoepitaxy after the GaSb substrate is deoxidized, and then the multilayer AlGa(In)AsSb material is grown.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used to adjust the strain of a high efficiency Sb-chalcogenide laser functional layer. The process of growing the multilayer AlGa(In)AsSb material on the same test piece is to fix the Al and Ga(In) components, and then change the As component to obtain AlGa(In)AsSb materials with different As components.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used to tune the strain of a high efficiency antimonide laser functional layer. The thickness of the AlGa(In)AsSb material grown from bottom to top is increasing.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used to tune the strain of a high efficiency antimonide laser functional layer. The As pressure is monotonically changed during the growth process.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used to tune the strain of a high efficiency antimonide laser functional layer. The As pressure is monotonically increasing or monotonically decreasing during the growth process.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used to tune the strain of a high efficiency antimonide laser functional layer. The steps of growing the AlGa(In)AsSb material with different As pressures and different thicknesses in step 1 are as follows: Growth of first thickness of AlGa(In)As under As pressure a1 x1 Sb 1-x1 Growth of second thickness of AlGa(In)As under As pressure a2 while maintaining antimony wetting x2 Sb 1-x2 Growth of remaining thickness of AlGa(In)As under As pressure a3 while maintaining antimony wetting xn Sb 1-xn material.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used to tune the strain of a high efficiency antimonide laser functional layer. In step 3, the strain and As pressure obtained in step 2 are plotted on the same graph, and then the As pressure of the AlGa(In)AsSb material under zero strain is obtained by interpolation.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the method is used to tune the strain of a high efficiency antimonide laser functional layer. The error of As under zero strain is ±100 arc seconds.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is used to tune the strain of a high efficiency antimonide laser functional layer. In step 2, the diffraction data of GaSb near the 004 diffraction peak are analyzed, the intensity in the XRD data is matched with the AlGa(In)AsSb material corresponding to different As, and then the strain value corresponding to the AlGa(In)AsSb material with different As pressure is obtained.