Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English en
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-04-19

MOCVD Technology for Visible Light Emitting II-VI Lasers

Objective

The aim of the project is to develop the II-VI MOCVD technology and its applications in the field of blue light emission (Light Emitting and laser diodes):

- high purity II-VI precursor technology
- MOCVD equipment technology
- develop the knowledge on II-VI quantum heterostructures and their applications in device structures
- develop the knowledge concerning II-VI material processing.
There is a great demand for visible light emitting semiconductor lasers. III-V materials are not well suited for short wavelength applications because their band gap is generally not wide enough. The best potential materials are the wide gap II-VI compounds (based on zinc selenium, zinc tellurium, zinc sulphide) which are intrinsically better luminescent materials than the III-V materials. Research is being carried out in order to produce a semiconductor laser device, emitting in the visible range (blue), in which the active structure is based on metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) grown wide gap II-VI compounds. This involves developing equipment technology and basic work on precursors prior to the growth and subsequent device processing on the epitaxial layers.

The growth of wide gap II-VI compounds using novel precursors has been done. It has been demonstrated that extremely high purity materials (zinc, selenium, zinc tellurium and zinc sulphide) could be obtained from triethylamine dimethylzinc.

This work demonstrate that a level of purity similar to III-V precursors can now be achieved with original II-VI precursors. Other new precursors are currently studied. The successful growth of zinc selenium, zinc tellurium short period superlattices has been demonstrated by MOCVD using these precursors. This type of structures will be used in the design of modulation doped devices.

A plasma precracking cell for plasma assisted doping has also been developed.
APPROACH AND METHODS

The consortium plans to develop wide-gap II-VI compounds growth and doping processes using the MOCVD technology, as European MOCVD growth technologies (equipment and precursors) are very competitive and because MOCVD is widely employed in the industry for the production of compound semiconductor devices (mainly III-V transistors, photodetectors and emitters).

The approach is two-fold. Firstly, a conventional laser structure will be made, involving a p-type ZnSe layer. This needs control of p-type doping in ZnSe. Secondly, a superlattice-based junction will be designed using n-type ZnSe and p-type ZnTe which is capable of exhibiting blue light emission.

POTENTIAL

The technology of optical information storage is limited by the density of information stored by the resolution of a system. This resolution depends both on disc media and technology, and also on the electro-optical reading system (the main element being the wavelength of the semiconductor laser employed). Up to now, only near infrared lasers based on III-V materials (GaAs/GaAlAs) have been employed, but their long wavelength is a limiting factor for the increase of the information density on the disc. The Blue sources using II-VI materials should constitute a major breakthrough in this domain.

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Data not available

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

Data not available

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

Data not available

Coordinator

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
EU contribution
No data
Address
1919 route de Mende
34405 Montpellier
France

See on map

Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Participants (4)

My booklet 0 0