Evolved from more than 15 years of low temperature thin film growth research at Sydney’s Macquarie University, the RPCVD process has been specifically developed for the low temperature growth of nitride based thin films, such as gallium nitride (GaN),  Indium Gallium Nitride (InGaN) and other  nitrides. With a growth temperature of between 500-900°C this process is compatible with the growth of thin films on buffered glass substrates in addition to sapphire or silicon. It has been developed without the use of ammonia (NH₃) and as a result is friendlier to the environment and safer to operate.

RPCVD Design Principle

The nitrogen precursor for growth is generated in a plasma remote from the substrate. This minimises the substrates exposure to the aggressive environment generated by the plasma, in particular etching effects from highly energetic ionic nitrogen species.

Downstream of the plasma generation zone, the metal organics enter the deposition chamber where they undergo thermal decomposition as the gas flow approaches the heated substrate surface.

The RPCVD process is potentially suited to a range of applications such as:

-Optoelectronic devices
-Power electronics
-Photodiodes
-Nitride based solar cells

X-Ray diffraction pole figures for the () plane of a 0.3µm thick GaN sample grown by RPCVD. Right Hand side: pink shape indicates () plane is the wurzite GaN crystal