[The influential factors of MOCVD growth of InP in opals].

The key problem of fabricating the 3-D InP inverse opal photonic crystal is to increase the loading of InP in opals. In the present paper, low-pressure metal-organic chemical-vapour deposition (MOCVD) was used to infill the voids within synthetic opals with InP. The morphologies and optical properties of SiO2-InP photonic crystal were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-Vis). Several series of experiments were carried out in order to analyze the factors that influence the loading of InP in opals and determine the optimal InP growth conditions. The results of optical experiments are in good agreement with those derived from the theoretical considerations: By increasing the extent of InP infilling within the voids, the extent of refractive index contrast between the silica spheres and the void as well as the extent of natural optical properties change of the photonic crystal were increased. Cycle growth, low-pressure growth, and using the match substrate and the same configuration character between SiOi and InP are beneficial to increaseing the extent of InP infilling within the opal voids. The process has been optimized to achieve SiO2-InP photonic crystal with higher loading of InP. The study provides a scientific basis for manufacturing three-dimensional InP inverse opal photonic crystals.