Thin Solid Films, Vol.322, No.1-2, 138-142, 1998
Epitaxial growth with phosphorus - 4. Application of dichloro-t-butylphosphine to CVD processes : the thermal chemical vapor deposition formation of copper phosphide thin films and etching of indium phosphide by dichloro-t-butylphosphine
The potential application of dichloro-t-butylphosphine (DCTBP) as a phosphorus source compound for InP growth is explored. Experiments employing DCTBP with trimethylindium were, however, unsuccessful in preparing InP thin films but rather resulted in the efficient etching of the InP substrate. An InP etching rate of 73.4 Angstrom/s was observed with an InP substrate temperature of approximately 600 degrees C. A possible mechanism is presented to account for these observations. In addition, crystalline copper phosphide (Cu3P) thin films were formed from the thermal surface reaction of copper metal and DCTBP. The films are characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques.