TEM and PL characterisation of MBE-grown epitaxial GaN/GaAs

1996 ◽  
Vol 423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Xin ◽  
P. D. Brown ◽  
C. B. Boothroyd ◽  
A. R. Preston ◽  
C. J. Humphreys ◽  
...  

AbstractMBE-grown epitaxial GaN deposited at 700°C on {001}, {111}A and B GaAs has been characterised using the combined techniques of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and photoluminescence (PL). On both { 111 } A and 111 B GaAs substrates, single crystal wurtzite GaN was formed, but with very high densities of threading defects. Best epitaxy occurred on 111B GaAs in accordance with PL measurements. An amorphous phase was identified at the GaN/{ 111 }A GaAs interface and the GaN epilayer evolved in this instance with the same Nterminated growth surface as for the case of growth on 111 B GaAs, as determined by convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED). Growth on {001} GaAs produced highly faulted columnar grains of zincblende GaN. Conversely, growth on {001} GaAs under an additional arsenic flux at 700°C resulted in the deposition of single crystal zincblende GaN with a high density of stacking faults and microtwins. Thus, the microstructure of epitaxial GaN depends very much on the detailed growth conditions and substrate orientations used.

Author(s):  
J W Steeds ◽  
R Vincent

We review the analytical powers which will become more widely available as medium voltage (200-300kV) TEMs with facilities for CBED on a nanometre scale come onto the market. Of course, high performance cold field emission STEMs have now been in operation for about twenty years, but it is only in relatively few laboratories that special modification has permitted the performance of CBED experiments. Most notable amongst these pioneering projects is the work in Arizona by Cowley and Spence and, more recently, that in Cambridge by Rodenburg and McMullan.There are a large number of potential advantages of a high intensity, small diameter, focussed probe. We discuss first the advantages for probes larger than the projected unit cell of the crystal under investigation. In this situation we are able to perform CBED on local regions of good crystallinity. Zone axis patterns often contain information which is very sensitive to thickness changes as small as 5nm. In conventional CBED, with a lOnm source, it is very likely that the information will be degraded by thickness averaging within the illuminated area.


Author(s):  
G. Lehmpfuhl ◽  
P. J. Smith

Specimens being observed with electron-beam instruments are subject to contamination, which is due to polymerization of hydrocarbon molecules by the beam. This effect becomes more important as the size of the beam is reduced. In convergent-beam studies with a beam diameter of 100 Å, contamination was observed to grow on samples at very high rates. Within a few seconds needles began forming under the beam on both the top and the underside of the sample, at growth rates of 400-500 Å/s, severely limiting the time available for observation. Such contamination could cause serious difficulty in examining a sample with the new scanning transmission electron microscopes, in which the beam is focused to a few angstroms.We have been able to reduce the rate of contamination buildup by a combination of methods: placing an anticontamination cold trap in the sample region, preheating the sample before observation, and irradiating the sample with a large beam before observing it with a small beam.


Author(s):  
John F. Mansfield

One of the most important advancements of the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in recent years has been the development of the analytical electron microscope (AEM). The microanalytical capabilities of AEMs are based on the three major techniques that have been refined in the last decade or so, namely, Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction (CBED), X-ray Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (XEDS) and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS). Each of these techniques can yield information on the specimen under study that is not obtainable by any other means. However, it is when they are used in concert that they are most powerful. The application of CBED in materials science is not restricted to microanalysis. However, this is the area where it is most frequently employed. It is used specifically to the identification of the lattice-type, point and space group of phases present within a sample. The addition of chemical/elemental information from XEDS or EELS spectra to the diffraction data usually allows unique identification of a phase.


Author(s):  
J W Steeds

That the techniques of convergent beam electron diffraction (CBED) are now widely practised is evident, both from the way in which they feature in the sale of new transmission electron microscopes (TEMs) and from the frequency with which the results appear in the literature: new phases of high temperature superconductors is a case in point. The arrival of a new generation of TEMs operating with coherent sources at 200-300kV opens up a number of new possibilities.First, there is the possibility of quantitative work of very high accuracy. The small probe will essentially eliminate thickness or orientation averaging and this, together with efficient energy filtering by a doubly-dispersive electron energy loss spectrometer, will yield results of unsurpassed quality. The Bloch wave formulation of electron diffraction has proved itself an effective and efficient method of interpreting the data. The treatment of absorption in these calculations has recently been improved with the result that <100> HOLZ polarity determinations can now be performed on III-V and II-VI semiconductors.


1993 ◽  
Vol 312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Mirin ◽  
Mohan Krishnamurthy ◽  
James Ibbetson ◽  
Arthur Gossard ◽  
John English ◽  
...  

AbstractHigh temperature (≥ 650°C) MBE growth of AlAs and AlAs/GaAs superlattices on (100) GaAs is shown to lead to quasi-periodic facetting. We demonstrate that the facetting is only due to the AlAs layers, and growth of GaAs on top of the facets replanarizes the surface. We show that the roughness between the AlAs and GaAs layers increases with increasing number of periods in the superlattice. The roughness increases to form distinct facets, which rapidly grow at the expense of the (100) surface. Within a few periods of the initial facet formation, the (100) surface has disappeared and only the facet planes are visible in cross-sectional transmission electron micrographs. At this point, the reflection high-energy electron diffraction pattern is spotty, and the specular spot is a distinct chevron. We also show that the facetting becomes more pronounced as the substrate temperature is increased from 620°C to 710°C. Atomic force micrographs show that the valleys enclosed by the facets can be several microns long, but they may also be only several nanometers long, depending on the growth conditions.


1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (S2) ◽  
pp. 477-478
Author(s):  
M.G. Shlepr ◽  
G.A. Schrantz ◽  
A.L. Rivoli ◽  
G. Bajor

A recent process technology to manufacture bipolar junction transistors utilizes polysilicon emitters. Polysilicon is deposited, appropriately doped to form both NPN and PNP transistors, and exposed to temperatures that result in grain growth. Since polysilicon is in contact with Si( 100) at the emitter, base, and collector (Fig. 1), solid phase epitaxial regrowth might also occur. Production runs with this structure occasionally produce transistors with low current gain. High and low gain NPN and PNP transistors were characterized by transmission electron microscopy.Vertical sections through NPN/PNP transistor arrays were made by the wedge technique, low-angle ion milled to electron-transparency, and viewed at 200 KV. The grain size of the polysilicon on oxide was recorded and estimated. The extent of epitaxial regrowth was quantified for each of the Si (100) contact areas. Convergent Beam Electron Diffraction (CBED) was used to confirm the orientation of the presumed regrown polysilicon.


1988 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 406-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. McKernan ◽  
B. C. De Cooman ◽  
C. B. Carter ◽  
D. P. Bour ◽  
J. R. Shealy

Gax In1 − x Pepilayers grown under a range of growth conditions by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE) on GaAs substrates have been studied in the electron microscope. The results show the presence of an ordering of the group III sublattice parallel to some of the {111} planes. Dark-field images directly reveal ordered domains of different orientations that appear not to be perfect, but contain many planar defects parallel to the growth surface.


2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 489-500
Author(s):  
Ding Peng ◽  
Philip N. H. Nakashima

The rare earth hexaborides are known for their tendency towards very high crystal perfection. They can be grown into large single crystals of very high purity by inert gas arc floating zone refinement. The authors have found that single-crystal cerium hexaboride grown in this manner contains a significant number of inclusions of an impurity phase that interrupts the otherwise single crystallinity of this prominent cathode material. An iterative approach is used to unequivocally determine the space group and the lattice parameters of the impurity phase based on geometries of convergent-beam electron diffraction (CBED) patterns and the symmetry elements that they possess in their intensity distributions. It is found that the impurity phase has a tetragonal unit cell with space group P4/mbm and lattice parameters a = b = 7.23 ± 0.03 and c = 4.09 ± 0.02 Å. These agree very well with those of a known material, CeB4. Confirmation that this is indeed the identity of the impurity phase is provided by quantitative CBED (QCBED) where the very close match between experimental and calculated CBED patterns has confirmed the atomic structure. Further confirmation is provided by a density functional theory calculation and also by high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document