SBIR-STTR Award

Sunvolt Nanosystems, Inc. and Stanford University propose to develop methods to enable commercial supply of high quality, periodically oriented GaAs and other III-IV semiconductor materials. To do this, we will combine our expertise in materials research, production equipment, and process development. We will employ a soon-to-be delivered state of the art HVPE system at the Stanford University Center for Integrated Systems. The quasi-phasematching in OP-GaAs allows efficient infrared frequency conversion throughout the transparency range of GaAs from 1 mm out to 17 mm. Thus OP-GaAs is an enabling technology for compact high-power mid-IR sources for IRCM and for frequency-agile sources suitable for local and remote sensing of chemical and biological species. With near-IR solid-state laser pumping, GaAs can be tuned over the entire fingerprint region of common inorganic and organic molecules. Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) is the best available method to produce bulk OP-GaAs. There are no commercial sources for HVPE thick film growth; the best present producer is growing 0.5 mm films in small quantities with several productivity and quality issues. To extend device performance, millimeter-plus layers are required; Sunvolt Nanosystems and Stanford University will develop robust scalable processes that yield ultra-thick layers in a single growth step.

Keywords:
Op-Gaas, Thick Film Growth, Hvpe, Nonlinear Optics

During Phase 2 we will develop growth methods and refine the growth system to produce millimeter-thick, periodically oriented GaAs in a single growth step. A commercial source of OP-GaAs thick films does not exist. Among present producers, a 1.0 mm film has been grown, but reproducible production in commercial quantities would require resolution of several yield, productivity and quality issues. Our objective is a scalable, reliable supply of millimeter-plus, OP-GaAs suitable for use in an optically pumped oscillator. This application requires optical loss and domain morphology that is not available and stands in the way of device development. We will combine Stanford’s expertise in nonlinear and guided-wave optics, optical devices based on patterned semiconductors, and optical characterization with Sunvolt’s expertise in materials research, production equipment, and process development. We will use Stanford’s new cold-walled, vertical flow HVPE system, to be installed and tested at the completion of Phase 1. We will optimize and document processes as we move in six steps from initial growth of thin epitaxial films to thick growth of patterned films with the structure and transparency required by the target devices.

Keywords:
Op-Gaas, Hvpe, Non-Linear Optics, Iii-V Semiconductors, Process Development, Patterned Growth, Galli