Recent developments in semiconductor research

Recent findings drawn from various laboratories focused toward a new understanding of the nature of crystal growth and how impurities are incorporated or excluded from the lattice were considered. From these findings a heuristic approach is given for improving the uniformity and charge carrier concentration of thin semiconductor films. Such improvement is considered essential to achieve respectable yield on large scale integrated circuits. A tentative conclusion is drawn which indicates that if the host compound crystal reactants are provided to the growing crystal surface in a reasonably stoichiometric manner, it is virtually impossible to include impurities into a growing crystal surface held at a sufficiently low temperature; impurities are incorporated into the crystal by gettering action of crystal defects located one and two monlayers beneath the growing surface. Devices in 3-5 semiconductors based on heterojunctions and two dimensional electron gases are noted and reliability concerns are voiced. Alternatives and novel device structures such as truly single crystal high quality silicon on insulator and beta silicon carbide devices are presented.