Effect of Nitridation and Buffer in GaN Films Grown on A-Plane (11-20) Sapphire

In this paper, we report on a systematic study of GaN growth on the A-plane sapphire by plasma-assisted MBE. The effects of plasma nitridation of the substrate and the growth of a low temperature GaN buffer on the structure and optoelectronic properties of the films are addressed. TEM studies indicate that films grown on substrates which were not nitridated prior to growth have a significant fraction of zinc-blende domains and poor orientational relation with the substrate. On the contrary, nitridation leads to films with superior structural and optoelectronic properties. The low temperature GaN buffer, grown on nitridated substrates, was found to also have a pronounced effect on the optoelectronic properties of the GaN films, especially in those with low carrier concentrations. The correlation between TEM and photoluminescence studies suggest that the transition at 3.27 eV can be attributed to the cubic domains in the films.