Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Depostion

“We believe that nanotech is the next great technology wave, the nexus of scientific innovation that revolutionizes most industries and indirectly affects the fabric of society. Historians will look back on the upcoming epoch with no less portent than the Industrial Revolution.”

Steve Jurvetson, Parter, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Foresight Nanotech Institute Weekly News Digest: June 15, 2005

photodetector

The department has been awarded funds by the National Research Foundation and the Nelson Mandela University to purchase a state-of-the-art MOCVD (metalorganic chemical vapour deposition) reactor for the development of nanostructures for photonic applications, worth well over R7 million. With this world class equipment (unique in Africa) available for research from late 2011, we are looking forward to doing leading edge work in this field.

The Nelson Mandela University Physics Department is currently the only research group in South Africa that has the capability to grow thin, epitaxial layers and structures for semiconducting devices, by a technique called MOCVD (metal-organic chemical vapour deposition). MOCVD is a relatively cheap technique for producing semiconductor structures, with control of interface abruptness almost on the atomic scale. It can be upscaled for commercial purposes and remains the industry standard for the production of complex compound semiconducting structures.

The MOCVD group in the Physics Department currently has two MOCVD reactors, as well as access to equipment for optical, structural and electrical characterization of samples (e.g. X-ray diffraction, photoluminescene, Raman and infrared spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy and Hall measurements).

The Department has been involved in this type of activity since the mid-1980s and has built up strong ties with respected international laboratories over the years.