TEM investigation of defect reduction and etch pit formation in GaN

2003 ◽  
Vol 798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelika Vennemann ◽  
Jens Dennemarck ◽  
Roland Kröger ◽  
Tim Böttcher ◽  
Detlef Hommel ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTGaN samples of this study were chemically wet etched to gain easier access to the dislocation sturcture. The scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy investigations revealed four different types of etch pits. After brief etching, several dislocations with screw component showed large etch pits, which may be correlated with the core of the screw dislocation. By means of SiNx micromasking the dislocation density could be reduced by more than one order of magnitude. The reduction of threading dislocations in the SiNx region in GaN grown on 〈0001〉 sapphire is due to bending of the threading dislocations into the {0001} plane, such that they form dislocation loops if they meet dislocations with opposite Burgers vectors. Accordingly, the achievable reduction of the dislocation density is limited by the probability that these dislocations interact. Edge dislocations bend more easily on account of their low line tension. This results in a preferential bending and reduction of dislocations with edge character.

2002 ◽  
Vol 743 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. N. Zakharov ◽  
Z. Liliental-Weber ◽  
A. M. Roskowski ◽  
S. Einfeldt ◽  
R. F. Davis

ABSTRACTGrowth of pendeo-epitaxial (PE) layers introduces misorientation between the seed layers and the overgrown wing layers. The origin of this misorientation has been studied by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) using a set of samples in which subsequent procedures utilized in PE were applied, i.e. growth of GaN template, stripe etching, annealing at the growth temperature of the PE layers and final PE growth. It was shown that etching of seed-stripes did not change the type of defects or their distribution. However, heating to the PE growth temperature drastically modified the surface and V-shaped pits were formed. The surface became smooth again after the PE growth took place. Overgrowth of the V-shaped pits resulted in formation of edge threading dislocations over a seed-stripe region with a dislocation density of 8.0×108 cm−2. Formation of new edge dislocations over the seed can have an influence on the misorientation between the PE grown regions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 2188-2194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Tokumoto ◽  
Naoya Shibata ◽  
Teruyasu Mizoguchi ◽  
Masakazu Sugiyama ◽  
Yukihiro Shimogaki ◽  
...  

The structure and configuration of threading dislocations (TDs) in AlN films grown on (0001) sapphire by metal–organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) were characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). It was found that the TDs formed in the films were mainly the perfect edge dislocations with the Burgers vector of b = ⅓〈11¯20〉. The majority of the edge TDs were not randomly formed but densely arranged in lines. The arrays of the edge TDs were mainly observed on the {11¯20} and {10¯10} planes. These two planes showed different configurations of TDs. TD arrays on both of these planes constituted low-angle boundaries. We suggest that these TDs are introduced to compensate for slight misorientations between the subgrains during the film growth.


1987 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Mogro-Campero ◽  
N. Lewis ◽  
S.A. Al-Marayati

AbstractEpitaxial silicon layers of 5¼m were grown on SIMOX wafers. The dislocation density decreases by more than an order of magnitude as a function of distance away from the buried oxide. Shallow pits (about 0.5 urn deep and several um wide) are observed on the epitaxial layer with a density of 1-2 mm2. Their density did not change with various processing variations. A search for the origin of the pits by transmission electron microscopy reveals that they may be associated with regions of irregularly thin and sometimes missing buried oxide, which appear after the usual high temperature SIMOX annealing step. These defective regions in the buried oxide appear to initiate twinned growth in the epitaxial silicon, and are associated with pits at the top epitaxial silicon surface.


2002 ◽  
Vol 743 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. Follstaedt ◽  
P. P. Provencio ◽  
D. D. Koleske ◽  
C. C. Mitchell ◽  
A. A. Allerman ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe density of vertical threading dislocations at the surface of GaN grown on sapphire by cantilever epitaxy has been reduced with two new approaches. First, narrow mesas (<1 μm wide) were used and {11–22} facets formed over them early in growth to redirect dislocations from vertical to horizontal. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy was used to demonstrate this redirection and to identify optimum growth and processing conditions. Second, a GaN nuc-leation layer with delayed 3D → 2D growth transition and inherently lower threading dislocation density was adapted to cantilever epitaxy. Several techniques show that a dislocation density of only 2–3×107/cm2 was achieved by combining these two approaches. We also suggest other developments of cantilever epitaxy for reducing dislocations in heteroepitaxial systems.


2017 ◽  
Vol 897 ◽  
pp. 707-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Zhao Yao ◽  
Yukari Ishikawa ◽  
Yoshihiro Sugawara ◽  
Daisaku Yokoe ◽  
Masaki Sudo ◽  
...  

Threading dislocations (TDs) in an HVPE-grown free-standing GaN substrate have been studied by means of etch pit method using molten KOH+Na2O2 solution, cathodoluminescence (CL) mapping and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We have focused on the correlation between (1) Burgers vectors of TDs, (2) their appearances as dark spots in CL image, and (3) geometries of corresponding etch pits. Based on the above results, dislocation categorization for GaN by using etch pits or CL is discussed.


1996 ◽  
Vol 442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Ikematsu ◽  
T. Iwasaki ◽  
H. Harada ◽  
K. Tanaka ◽  
M. Fujinami ◽  
...  

AbstractIn dislocated Cz-Si crystals, rows of flow patterns (FP) and Secco etch pits (SEP) (2–3 mm in length, along <110> direction) can be revealed by Secco etch without agitation. In this study, the crystal defects forming FP-SEP rows in dislocated Cz-Si crystals are investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Microdefects, 0.1 μm in size, are observed in a row along a FP-SEP row, <110> direction. These defects were identified as oxygen precipitates with or without dislocation loops (interstitial-type), and voids with oxidized interiors. We conclude that FP originate from interstitial-type dislocation loops, and SEP are due to oxygen precipitates or voids.


1986 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.A. Fitzgerald ◽  
K.L. Kavanagh ◽  
D.G Ast ◽  
P.D. Kirchner ◽  
G.D. Pettit ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTMismatched InGaAs-GaAs epitaxial layers were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on substrates containing 9800 or <100 dislocations/cm2. Cathodoluminescence (CL), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), and energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX) were used to analyze the effect of mismatch and substrate dislocation density on interface morphology. Surface ridges in scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images were found to correlate with areas of high recombination in CL. The spacing of dark recombination lines seen in CL was found to be an order of magnitude larger than the spacing of misfit dislocations seen in TEM. CL/IEM correlation reveals that some areas of the misfit array act more strongly as recombination centers than others. CL of step etched samples show that interface defects propagate into the GaAs buffer layer to depths of 4000 Å below the interface. The substrate dislocation density does not have a major effect on the number or spacing of the dark recombination lines.


Author(s):  
Robert C. Rau ◽  
John Moteff

Transmission electron microscopy has been used to study the thermal annealing of radiation induced defect clusters in polycrystalline tungsten. Specimens were taken from cylindrical tensile bars which had been irradiated to a fast (E > 1 MeV) neutron fluence of 4.2 × 1019 n/cm2 at 70°C, annealed for one hour at various temperatures in argon, and tensile tested at 240°C in helium. Foils from both the unstressed button heads and the reduced areas near the fracture were examined.Figure 1 shows typical microstructures in button head foils. In the unannealed condition, Fig. 1(a), a dispersion of fine dot clusters was present. Annealing at 435°C, Fig. 1(b), produced an apparent slight decrease in cluster concentration, but annealing at 740°C, Fig. 1(C), resulted in a noticeable densification of the clusters. Finally, annealing at 900°C and 1040°C, Figs. 1(d) and (e), caused a definite decrease in cluster concentration and led to the formation of resolvable dislocation loops.


Author(s):  
J. J. Hren ◽  
W. D. Cooper ◽  
L. J. Sykes

Small dislocation loops observed by transmission electron microscopy exhibit a characteristic black-white strain contrast when observed under dynamical imaging conditions. In many cases, the topography and orientation of the image may be used to determine the nature of the loop crystallography. Two distinct but somewhat overlapping procedures have been developed for the contrast analysis and identification of small dislocation loops. One group of investigators has emphasized the use of the topography of the image as the principle tool for analysis. The major premise of this method is that the characteristic details of the image topography are dependent only on the magnitude of the dot product between the loop Burgers vector and the diffracting vector. This technique is commonly referred to as the (g•b) analysis. A second group of investigators has emphasized the use of the orientation of the direction of black-white contrast as the primary means of analysis.


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