Nucleation and Growth of Gallium Nitride Films on Si and Sapphire Substrates Using Buffer Layers

1996 ◽  
Vol 423 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. R. Perkins ◽  
M. N. Horton ◽  
D. Zhi ◽  
R. J. Matyi ◽  
Z. Z. Bandic ◽  
...  

AbstractWe have investigated the nucleation and growth of gallium nitride (GaN) films on silicon and sapphire substrates using halide vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). GaN growth was carried out on bare Si and sapphire surfaces, as well as on MOVPE-grown GaN buffer layers. HVPE growth on MOVPE GaN/AlN buffer layers results in lower defect densities as determined by x-ray than growth directly on sapphire. HVPE GaN films grown directly on sapphire exhibit strong near-edge photoluminescence, a pronounced lack of deep level-based luminescence, and x-ray FWHM values of 16 arcsec by an x-ray θ-2θ scan. The crystallinity of GaN films on sapphire is dominated by the presence of rotational misorientation domains, as measured by xray ω-scan diffractometry, which tend to decrease with increasing thickness or with the use of a homoepitaxial MOVPE buffer layer. The effect of increasing film thickness on the defect density of the epilayer was studied. In contrast, the HVPE growth of nitride films directly on silicon is complicated by mechanisms involving the formation of silicon nitrides and oxides at the initial growth front.

2002 ◽  
Vol 743 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Alan Doolittle ◽  
Gon Namkoong ◽  
Alexander Carver ◽  
Walter Henderson ◽  
Dieter Jundt ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTHerein, we discuss the use of a novel new substrate for III-Nitride epitaxy, Lithium Niobate. It is shown that Lithium Niobate (LN) has a smaller lattice mismatch to III-Nitrides than sapphire and can be used to control the polarity of III-Nitride films grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Results from initial growth studies are reported including using various nitridation/buffer conditions along with structural and optical characterization. Comparisons of data obtained from GaN and AlN buffer layers are offered and details of the film adhesion dependence on buffer layer conditions is presented. Lateral polarization heterostructures grown on periodically poled LN are also demonstrated. While work is still required to establish the limits of the methods proposed herein, these initial studies offer the promise for mixing III-Nitride semiconductor materials with lithium niobate allowing wide bandgap semiconductors to utilize the acoustic, pyroelectric/ferroelectric, electro-optic, and nonlinear optical properties of this new substrate material as well as the ability to engineer various polarization structures for future devices.


1997 ◽  
Vol 170 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 329-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoru Tanaka ◽  
Sohachi Iwai ◽  
Yoshinobu Aoyagi

1996 ◽  
Vol 449 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Yeadon ◽  
W. Kim ◽  
A. E. Botchkarev ◽  
S. N. Mohammad ◽  
H. Morkoc ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTIll-nitride semiconductors are emerging as highly promising candidates for the fabrication of wide band-gap electronic and opto-electronic devices. Sapphire ((α-A12O3) is currently one of the primary substrates of choice for the growth of GaN despite a large lattice mismatch. Significant improvements in the quality of III-nitride layers have been demonstrated by exposure of the substrate to reactive nitrogen species followed by deposition of a low temperature AIN or GaN buffer layer. In this paper we present a study of the evolution of the surface topography and defect microstructure of nitrided α-A12O3 substrates and AIN buffer layers deposited by reactive molecular beam epitaxy (RMBE). Their influence on the morphology and properties of GaN layers is also discussed. Both nitridation time and AIN deposit thickness were varied systematically, at different temperatures and buffer growth rates. The microstructures were characterized using the atomic force microscope (AFM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Initial growth studies are ideally suited to in-situ experiments, and further investigations are also in progress using a unique UHV TEM with the facility for in-situ RMBE.


2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (01) ◽  
pp. 99-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. S. CHUAH ◽  
Z. HASSAN ◽  
H. ABU HASSAN

High-quality aluminum nitride ( AlN ) layers with full width at half maximum (FWHM) values of 11 arcmin were grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy on Si (111) substrates. AlN nucleation layers are being investigated for the growth of GaN on Si . Growth using AlN buffer layers leads to Al -polar films, with surfaces strongly dependent on the flux conditions used. Flat surfaces can be obtained by growing as Al -rich as possible, although Al droplets tend to form. Before starting the AlN growth, a few monolayers of Al are deposited on the substrate to avoid the formation of Si 3 N 4. X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were employed to determine the surface and structural quality of the layers. XRD revealed that monocrystalline AlN was obtained. Best AlN films were obtained at high substrate temperatures (875°C) and III/V ratios close to stoichiometry.


2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (9) ◽  
pp. 1938-1943 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. N. Dai ◽  
Z. H. Wu ◽  
C. H. Yu ◽  
Q. Zhang ◽  
Y. Q. Sun ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary J. Reitmeier ◽  
Robert F. Davis

ABSTRACTAlN films and GaN films with AlN buffer layers were deposited via metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy on Si(111) substrates previously exposed to trimethylaluminum for increasing times. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to determine the influence of Al pre-flow time on the nucleation and surface morphology of the AlN and GaN films. When preceded by a 10 second Al pre-flow, AlN films feature an increased and more uniform nucleation density as compared to films deposited without Al pre-flows. Ten second Al pre-flows were also found to result in a reduction of the RMS roughness for 100 nm thick AlN films from 3.6 nm to 1.0 nm. AFM of 0.5 μm thick GaN films deposited on AlN buffers with varying pre-flow times showed reduced roughness and decreased pit density when using Al pre-flows of 10 or 20 seconds. High resolution x-ray diffraction of the GaN films showed a reduction in the average full-width halfmaximum (FWHM) of the GaN (00.2) reflection from 1076 arcsec to 914 arcsec when the AlN buffer layer was initiated with a 10 second Al pre-flow. Increasing the pre-flow time to 20 seconds and 30 seconds resulted in average (00.2) FWHM values of 925 arcsec and 928 arcsec, respectively. Similar behavior of the peak widths was observed for the (30.2) and (10.3) reflections when the pre-flow times were varied from 0 to 30 seconds.


2000 ◽  
Vol 619 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Thorley ◽  
S. Gnanarajan ◽  
A. Katsaros ◽  
N. Savvides

ABSTRACTWe studied the epitaxial growth of CeO2 thin films deposited onto MgO(100), YSZ(100) and Al2O3(1102 ) (r-plane sapphire) substrates by reactive dc magnetron sputtering of a Ce metal target in an Ar/O2 plasma. The crystalline quality and biaxial alignment of the films was determined using x-ray diffraction techniques (θ-2θ, ω-scans, pole figures, ø-scans). The CeO2/MgO(100) and CeO2/Al2O3(1102) epitaxy was evident at 600°C and developed to nearly perfect biaxial alignment at 850°C with Δø = 5° and 9° respectively. The CeO2/YSZ (100) epitaxy occurred below 300°C while deposition at ≥ 650°C led to single-crystal quality CeO2 films with Δø = 0.2°.


2002 ◽  
Vol 237-239 ◽  
pp. 1133-1138 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Tabuchi ◽  
H. Kyouzu ◽  
Y. Takeda ◽  
S. Yamaguchi ◽  
H. Amano ◽  
...  

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