The NL-3 Laboratory specializes in crystal growth research with the use of high temperature systems with gas pressure up to 2 GPa and temperature up to 2000 K.
With almost 50-year-long tradition in research NL-3 succeeded in developing many important methods of crystal growth. The influence of high pressure on the properties of systems containing semiconductors and superconductors was studied by annealing, crystallization and differential thermal analysis (DTA) experiments, allowing the determination of the character of phase diagrams of III - V nitrides (GaP-GaN), NbN, MoN, and II-VI compounds (HgS, HgTe, HgSe). One of the most important results was the evaluation of the equilibrium curve for a Ga-GaN-N2 system [1].
In the early 1990s, due to an extreme importance of GaN, the main effort was put into the optimization of this material for short wavelength optoelectronics applications. The growth of GaN crystals from solution of atomic nitrogen in liquid gallium under high nitrogen pressure (High Nitrogen Pressure Solution; HNPS) resulted in the highest quality material (hexagonal GaN platelets grown in a spontaneous way) with dislocation density as low as 102 cm-2 [2].
In 2003 work on the halide vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) of GaN started in the Laboratory. The motivation was to increase the size of the pressure-grown crystals and crystallize seeds for the HNPS method. Two-inch and up to 1 mm thick free standing HVPE-GaN crystals were obtained using MOCVD-GaN/sapphire templates. Recently a Multi Feed Seed (MFS) configuration in the HNPS growth method has been proposed and developed. This configuration is based on the conversion of free-standing HVPE-GaN crystals to free-standing, pressure-grown HNPS-GaN of a much higher quality than the seeds [3].
In 2012 the Laboratory started collaborating with Ammono S.A. and using ammonothermally-grown GaN crystals (Am-GaN) as seeds for HVPE growth. Crack-free and up to 2.5 mm thick HVPE-GaN layers were obtained. The free-standing HVPE-GaN crystals sliced from Am-GaN seeds showed high structural as well as optical, electrical, and thermal quality [4].
On 1st July 2017 the Institute of High Pressure Physics Polish Academy of Sciences became the leaseholder of the Ammono S.A. in bankruptcy. The company became a part of the Institute and NL-3 Laboratory [5].
On 8th January 2019 the Institute of High Pressure Physics acquired Ammono S.A. in bankruptcy. The commercial activity is kept as a pilot line at NL-3 Laboratory. The decision to continue the production was a result of the positive outcome of the leasing period [6].
Read more:
[1] J. Karpinski, J. Jun and S. Porowski, J. Cryst. Growth, 66, 1 (1984)
[2] I. Grzegory, M. Bockowski, S. Porowski in Bulk Crystal Growth of Electronic, Optical and Optoelectronic Materials, ed. P. Capper (Wiley, New York, 2005), 173
[3] M. Bockowski, I. Grzegory, B. Łucznik, T. Sochacki, G. Nowak, B. Sadovyi, P, Strak, G. Kamler, E. Litwin-Staszewska, S. Porowski, J. Cryst. Growth 350 (2012) 5
[4] T. Sochacki, Z. Bryan, M. Amilusik, R. Collazo, B. Lucznik, J. L. Weyher, G. Nowak, B. Sadovyi, G. Kamler, R. Kucharski, M, Zajac, R. Doradzinski, R. Dwilinski, I Grzegory, M. Bockowski, Z. Sitar, Appl. Phys. Express 6 (2013) 075504
[5] M. Zajac, R. Kucharski, K. Grabianska, A. Gwardys-Bak, A. Puchalski, D. Wasik, E. Litwin-Staszewska, R. Piotrzkowski, J. Z Domagala, M. Bockowski, Prog. Cryst. Growth Charact. Mater. 64, 63 (2018).
[6] R. Kucharski, T. Sochacki, B. Lucznik, and M. Bockowski J. Appl. Phys. (Perspectives) 128, 050902 (2020)>/a>