scholarly journals Effect of Buffer Layer and III/V Ratio on the Surface Morphology of Gan Grown by MBE

1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (S1) ◽  
pp. 417-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. Piquette ◽  
P. M. Bridger ◽  
R. A. Beach ◽  
T. C. McGill

The surface morphology of GaN is observed by atomic force microscopy for growth on GaN and AlN buffer layers and as a function of III/V flux ratio. Films are grown on sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using a radio frequency nitrogen plasma source. Growth using GaN buffer layers leads to N-polar films, with surfaces strongly dependent on the flux conditions used. Flat surfaces can be obtained by growing as Ga-rich as possible, although Ga droplets tend to form. Ga-polar films can be grown on AlN buffer layers, with the surface morphology determined by the conditions of buffer layer deposition as well as the III/V ratio for growth of the GaN layer. Near-stoichiometric buffer layer growth conditions appear to support the flattest surfaces in this case. Three defect types are typically observed in GaN films on AlN buffers, including large and small pits and “loop” defects. It is possible to produce surfaces free from large pit defects by growing thicker films under more Ga-rich conditions. In such cases the surface roughness can be reduced to less than 1 nm RMS.

1998 ◽  
Vol 537 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. Piquette ◽  
P. M. Bridger ◽  
R. A. Beach ◽  
T. C. McGill

AbstractThe surface morphology of GaN is observed by atomic force microscopy for growth on GaN and AlN buffer layers and as a function of III/V flux ratio. Films are grown on sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using a radio frequency nitrogen plasma source. Growth using GaN buffer layers leads to N-polar films, with surfaces strongly dependent on the flux conditions used. Flat surfaces can be obtained by growing as Ga-rich as possible, although Ga droplets tend to form. Ga-polar films can be grown on AlN buffer layers, with the surface morphology determined by the conditions of buffer layer deposition as well as the III/V ratio for growth of the GaN layer. Near-stoichiometric buffer layer growth conditions appear to support the flattest surfaces in this case. Three defect types are typically observed in GaN films on AlN buffers, including large and small pits and “loop” defects. It is possible to produce surfaces free from large pit defects by growing thicker films under more Ga-rich conditions. In such cases the surface roughness can be reduced to less than l nm RMS.


1994 ◽  
Vol 339 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. B. Rowland ◽  
K. Doverspike ◽  
D. K. Gaskill ◽  
J. A. Freitas

ABSTRACTGallium nitride layers were grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy on AlN buffer layers deposited in the range of 450–650°C. The GaN growth conditions were kept constant so that changes in film properties were due only to changes in the buffer layer growth temperature. A monotonie improvement in relative crystallinity as measured by double-crystal X-ray diffraction corresponded with a decrease in buffer layer growth temperature. Improvements in GaN electron transport at 300 and 77 K were also observed with decreasing AlN buffer layer temperature. Photoluminescence spectra for the lowest temperatures studied were dominated by sharp excitonic emission, with some broadening of the exciton linewidth observed as the buffer layer growth temperature was increased. The full width at half maximum of the excitonic emission was 2.7 meV for GaN grown on a 450°C buffer layer. These results indicate that minimizing AlN buffer layer temperature results in improvements in GaN film quality.


1999 ◽  
Vol 572 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Ruvimov ◽  
Z. Liliental-Weber ◽  
J. Washburn ◽  
Y. Kim ◽  
G. S. Sudhir ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTTransmission electron microscopy was employed to study the effect of N/Ga flux ratio in the growth of GaN buffer layers on the structure of GaN epitaxial layers grown by molecular-beamepitaxy (MBE) on sapphire. The dislocation density in GaN layers was found to increase from 1×1010 to 6×1010 cm−2 with increase of the nitrogen flux from 5 to 35 sccm during the growth of the GaN buffer layer with otherwise the same growth conditions. All GaN layers were found to contain inversion domain boundaries (IDBs) originated at the interface with sapphire and propagated up to the layer surface. Formation of IDBs was often associated with specific defects at the interface with the substrate. Dislocation generation and annihilation were shown to be mainly growth-related processes and, hence, can be controlled by the growth conditions, especially during the first growth stages. The decrease of electron Hall mobility and the simultaneous increase of the intensity of “green” luminescence with increasing dislocation density suggest that dislocation-related deep levels are created in the bandgap.


2003 ◽  
Vol 798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gon Namkoong ◽  
W. Alan ◽  
A. S. Brown ◽  
M. Losurdo ◽  
M. M. Giangregorio ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe effect of the buffer layers on the subsequent GaN epitaxial layers and electrical properties of AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterojunction structures nitrided at various temperatures was investigated. For AlN buffer layers, two different growth conditions of AlN buffer layers were introduced to avoid Al droplets. We found that etch pit density and structural quality of GaN epitaxial layer strongly depends on the growth conditions of AlN buffer layers. When using a double buffer layer (low temperature GaN on high temperature AlN) for 200 °C nitridation, the etch pit density was measured to high 107 cm-2 in GaN epitaxial layers. Furthermore, we observed that electrical properties of AlGaN/AlN/GaN heterostructures depend on growth conditions of buffer layers and nitridation temperatures. The mobility in Al0.33Ga0.67N/AlN/GaN structures grown on single AlN buffer layers for 200 °C nitridation were 1300 cm2/Vs at a sheet charge of 1.6×1013 cm-2. Using the double buffer layer for 200 °C nitridation, the mobility increased to 1587 cm2/Vs with a sheet charge of 1.25×1013 cm-2.


2003 ◽  
Vol 798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Jain ◽  
Joan M. Redwing

ABSTRACTThin films of InN were grown on (0001) Sapphire by MOCVD. The effect of growth conditions and buffer layer on the film morphology was studied. Growth temperature and TMI flow rate were important factors in the growth of InN. The use of a low temperature AlN buffer layer was also found to improve the morphology and crystal quality of the films. Thin (<40Å) AlN buffer layers produced the best results while polycrystalline InN was obtained when the buffer layer thickness exceeded 60Å. Delamination of the InN films was observed to occur at growth temperature, which limited the thickness of the films to less than 300 nm. A room temperature mobility of 792 cm2/Vs and an electron concentration of 2.1×1019 cm-3 were measured in an approximately 200 nm thick InN layer grown on sapphire.


Author(s):  
J. Kozlowski ◽  
R. Paszkiewicz ◽  
R. Korbutowicz ◽  
M. Panek ◽  
B. Paszkiewicz ◽  
...  

GaN undoped layers of good morphology, good crystallinity and electrical properties were grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by the atmospheric pressure MOVPE technique using a new multi-buffer growth approach. A suitable buffer layer growth technique was worked out which enabled growth of GaN layers with properties superior to those grown in a conventional process scheme. Additional buffer layers, deposited with increasing temperature and increasing V/III molar ratio, were inserted between the low temperature buffer layer and the high temperature GaN layer grown on it. The c and a lattice constants of the high temperature GaN overgrown layer were evaluated from X-ray data. The layer mosaicity and c-lattice parameter variation were determined. The relationship between c and a lattice parameters and the second buffer layer growth scheme has been studied. The effect of second buffer layer growth conditions, buffer layer annealing time as well as the influence of V/III molar ratio during the high temperature GaN deposition on the crystalline and electrical properties of overgrown GaN epitaxial layers are presented. Characterization includes surface morphology examination by SEM and Nomarski optical microscope, X-ray diffraction and C-V measurements.


2014 ◽  
Vol 881-883 ◽  
pp. 1117-1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Min Zhao

ZnO thin films with different thickness (the sputtering time of AlN buffer layers was 0 min, 30 min,60 min, and 90 min, respectively) were prepared on Si substrates using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering system.X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM), Hall measurements setup (Hall) were used to analyze the structure, morphology and electrical properties of ZnO films.The results show that growth are still preferred (002) orientation of ZnO thin films with different sputtering time of AlN buffer layer,and for the better growth of ZnO films, the optimal sputtering time is 60 min.


2009 ◽  
Vol 311 (12) ◽  
pp. 3278-3284 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Le Louarn ◽  
S. Vézian ◽  
F. Semond ◽  
J. Massies
Keyword(s):  

2007 ◽  
Vol 1040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Yokoo ◽  
Naoki Wakiya ◽  
Naonori Sakamoto ◽  
Takato Nakamura ◽  
Hisao Suzuki

AbstractWe have grown indium nitride (InN) films using In buffer layer on an a-plane sapphire substrate under atmospheric pressure by halide CVD (AP-HCVD). Growth was carried out by two steps: deposition In buffer layer at 900 °C and subsequent growth of InN layer at 650 °C. In order to compare, we also grown InN films on an a-plane sapphire. The InN films are investigated on crystal quality, surface morphology and electrical property using high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), X-ray pole figure, scanning electron microscope (SEM), Hall measurement. The results show that the crystal quality, surface morphology and electrical property of InN films are improved by using In buffer layer.


2006 ◽  
Vol 916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuhiro Ito ◽  
Yu Uchida ◽  
Sang-jin Lee ◽  
Susumu Tsukimoto ◽  
Yuhei Ikemoto ◽  
...  

AbstractAbout 20 years ago, the discovery of an AlN buffer layer lead to the breakthrough in epitaxial growth of GaN layers with mirror-like surface, using a metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technique on sapphire substrates. Since then, extensive efforts have been continued to develop a conductive buffer layer/substrate for MOCVD-grown GaN layers to improve light emission of GaN light-emitting diodes. In the present study, we produced MOCVD-grown, continuous, flat epitaxial GaN layers on nitrogen enriched TiN buffer layers with the upper limit of the nitrogen content of TiN deposited at room temperature (RT) on sapphire substrates. It was concluded that the nitrogen enrichment would reduce significantly the TiN/GaN interfacial energy. The RT deposition of the TiN buffer layers suppresses their grain growth during the nitrogen enrichment and the grain size refining must increase nucleation site of GaN. In addition, threading dislocation density in the GaN layers grown on TiN was much lower than that in the GaN layers grown on AlN.


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