Ammonothermal growth of GaN utilizing negative temperature dependence of solubility in basic ammonia
ABSTRACTAmmonothermal growth of GaN was studied to determine its eventual utility for mass production of GaN bulk crystals. Dissolution of GaN in supercritical ammonia with 1 M NaNH2 was investigated through a weight loss method. The time dependence of the weight loss was examined at 500°C and 525°C. Since the weight loss did not reach saturation as a function of time, the solubility limit was not realized. However, experiments demonstrate that GaN has a negative temperature dependence of solubility in supercritical ammonobasic solutions. Based on this result, GaN was grown via fluid transport from metallic Ga to a free-standing GaN single crystal seed by placing the seed crystal in a higher temperature zone and the nutrient in a lower temperature zone. GaN films with thickness of 5 μm (Ga face) and 4 μm (N face) were simultaneously grown on the seed in three days. The surface morphology, optical property, and defect density were found to be different for films on Ga face and N face.