Scalable Growth of High-Quality Cubic Boron Arsenide through Flux-Assisted Bridgman And Chemical Vapor Transport Methods

The increasing complexity of semiconductor devices and the continued rapid growth of high-performance wide-bandgap and ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductor devices are limited by inadequate integrated thermal management, including the acquisition of heat from semiconductor devices, its transport, and ultimate rejection to the ambient environment.  New high thermal conducting materials with good integration potential with other materials are thus becoming crucial to achieve miniaturized thermal management with high efficiency, power and functionalities. Cubic boron arsenide (c-BAs) has emerged as a promising candidate. However, challenges remain in synthesizing high-quality crystals with low defect concentrations, high homogeneous thermal conductivity, and high yields using the conventional chemical vapor transport method. This study reports the Bridgman growth of high-yield c-BAs single crystals using liquid arsenic (l-As) as a reaction medium. The crystals exhibit high uniformity, reduced defect densities, and lower carrier concentrations, as confirmed by x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, temperature-dependent photoluminescence, and electrical transport measurements.  The scalability of this method and the development of new growth methods through this flux-assisted growth approach will also be discussed.  We aim to establish reliable, scalable pathways for producing large-size, low-defect, high-quality, and uniform c-BAs substrates for advanced electronic and thermal management applications in next-generation electronic devices.