SBIR-STTR Award

Phosphine (PH3) is a gas necessary for making compound semiconductors such as InP, InAs(1-x)Px, GaP, and GaAs(1-x)Px as well as a dopant source for silicon. It is a very toxic gas with a TLV of 0.3 ppm. New regulations make the transport, storage, and handling of compressed gas cylinders of phosphine increasingly difficult. To avoid these problems, we are developing a compact point of use phosphine generator. The generator will produce semiconductor grade phosphine on demand at the semiconductor fabrication facility. This development will provide a much safer source of phosphine.

Phosphine (PH3) is a gas necessary for making compound semiconductors as well as a dopant source of silicon semiconductor. It is very toxic with at TLV of 0.3 ppm. Environmental regulations make the transport, storage, and handling of compressed gas cylinders of phosphine increasingly difficult and expensive. This project will develop a point source generator for phosphine to eliminate the necessity to transport and store this toxic gas thereby making semiconductor manufacturing safer and more environmentally secure. The phosphine generator will also offer a competitive advantage over organophosphorus sources which have slower materials growth rates and are much more expensive than phosphine. In Phase I we demonstrated that it is possible to generate phosphine at the rates and purity needed for semiconductor manufacturing. In Phase II effort we focus on improving the phosphine generation rate, designing and fabricating the prototype phosphine generator, and through a collaborative effort, grow and characterize InP. A comparative study of InP grown from both traditional gas cylinder phosphine and phosphine from the generator will test the ability of the generator to produce high quality materials. Through a series of iterative InP grow runs and generator modifications, the phosphine generator design will be optimized. The Phase III commercial phosphine generator design will be based on the results of these tests.