1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to articles having a spinel crystal structure, and includes articles such as boules, wafers, substrates, and active devices incorporating same. In addition, the present invention relates generally to methods for forming such articles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Active optoelectronic devices, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes oftentimes will utilize nitride-based semiconductor layers for the active layer of the device. In this regard, the family of gallium nitride (GaN) materials, which broadly includes Ga(Al, In)N materials, have been utilized as a direct transition-type semiconductor material having a band gap that may be manipulated over a fairly wide range, on the order of about 2 to 6 eV.
In order to take advantage of the optoelectronic characteristics of such nitride-based semiconductor materials, they generally are formed as a single crystal. In this regard, it is generally not pragmatic to form bulk monocrystalline boules of nitride-based semiconductor material. Accordingly, the industry typically has sought to deposit such materials as a monocrystalline layer, such as by epitaxial growth, on an appropriate substrate. It is desired that the substrate on which the nitride-based semiconductor layer is deposited has a compatible crystal structure, to manifest the desired crystal structure in the as-deposited active layer. While such nitride-based materials, such as GaN and AlN can exist in several different crystal states, typically the desired crystal structure is wurtzite rather than zinc blende. In an effort to closely match the desired wurtzite crystal structure, the art has utilized monocrystalline alumina in the form of sapphire (corundum), and specifically oriented the sapphire substrate so as to provide an appropriate crystallographic surface on which the active layer is deposited. However, sapphire suffers from numerous drawbacks. For example, sapphire does not exhibit a cleavage plane that can be used to fabricate active devices. In this regard, it is generally desirable to dice the wafer into individual die (forming active devices, each having a device substrate) by cleavage rather than by slicing or sawing, as cleavage may reduce manufacturing costs and may simplify the manufacturing process.
In contrast, materials having the spinel crystallographic structure, if oriented properly, demonstrate a cleavage plane, the projection of which in the surface of the wafer is generally parallel to a cleavage plane of the nitride active layer, which permits predictable and reliable device fabrication. Despite the technical superiority of spinel over sapphire, a number of processing hurdles exist, resulting in somewhat limited economic feasibility. While the industry has sought to create spinel substrates by a technique known as flame fusion, the so called “Verneuil” technique, such a technique is relatively difficult to carry out, and extremely high processing temperatures have been traced to compositional inhomogeneities in the formed boule.
The industry has also sought to develop single crystalline spinel boules from melt-based process techniques, which include techniques such as the so-called Czochralski technique, among others. In such melt-based techniques, generally a stoichiometric crystal (typically MgO.Al2O3, having an MgO:Al2O3 ratio of 1:1) is grown from a batch melt, rather than flame-melted that involves solidification on a solid surface. While melt-based techniques have shown much promise for the creation of single-crystal spinel substrates, the process is relatively difficult to control, and suffers from undesirably low yield rates, increasing costs. In addition, extended cooling periods and annealing periods are carried out to remove residual internal mechanical strain and stress present in the boules following boule formation. Such cooling rates may be unusually low, and cooling periods significantly long, affecting throughput and increasing thermal budget and cost. In a similar manner, the extended annealing times, which may range into the hundreds of hours, further increase processing costs.
Still further, even beyond the relatively high processing costs and despite the precautions taken in an attempt to address residual mechanical strain and stress in the crystal, oftentimes the wafers formed from boules tend to suffer from undesirably high failure rates, with frequently lower than 20% yield rates.
In view of the foregoing, it is generally desirable to provide improved spinel boules, wafers, substrates, and optoelectronic devices incorporating same, as well as improved methods for forming same.