MOCVD or "metalorganic chemical vapour deposition" is a technique for depositing very thin layers of compound semiconductor materials with extremely fine precision, approaching single atomic layer control. It is used commercially in a wide variety of electronic devices including high speed transistors, solar cells, photodetectors, light emitting diodes, lasers etc.
The MOCVD lab supports a wide range of research projects ranging from basic crystal growth mechanisms to physics of semiconductors to the development of semiconductor devices that push the limits of what is currently available. The work is highly interdisciplinary and support projects in nanoscience, magnetism, optoelectronics, electronic devices, and new materials.
Our primary focus at present is on the growth of cubic phase gallium nitride (GaN) which provides the promise to achieve non-polar crystal orientations suitable for green light emitting diodes and high speed devices. Our aim is to control the formation of small regions of cubic GaN on silicon substrates with the ultimate aim of enabling integration with silicon devices.
A second focus is on the growth of nanocrystals of the wide bandgap semicoductor zinc oxide (ZnO). Recently this material has shown promise in quantum information applications. Our focus is primarily on the growth of high crytalline quality nanowires with very fine dopant control suitable for accessing individual donors spins by optical transitions.