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Title: Hydride vapor phase epitaxy and characterization of high-quality ScN epilayers

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4871656· OSTI ID:22273555
; ;  [1]
  1. Environment and Energy Materials Research Division, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044 (Japan)

The heteroepitaxial growth of ScN films was investigated on various substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). Single crystalline mirror-like ScN(100) and ScN(110) layers were successfully deposited on r- and m-plane sapphire substrates, respectively. Homogeneous stoichiometric films (N/Sc ratio 1.01 ± 0.10) up to 40 μm in thickness were deposited. Their mosaicity drastically improved with increasing the film thickness. The band gap was determined by optical methods to be 2.06 eV. Impurity concentrations including H, C, O, Si, and Cl were investigated through energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and secondary ion mass spectrometry. As a result, it was found that the presence of impurities was efficiently suppressed in comparison with that of HVPE-grown ScN films reported in the past, which was possible thanks to the home-designed corrosion-free HVPE reactor. Room-temperature Hall measurements indicated that the residual free electron concentrations ranged between 10{sup 18}–10{sup 20} cm{sup −3}, which was markedly lower than the reported values. The carrier mobility increased monotonically with the decreasing in carrier concentration, achieving the largest value ever reported, 284 cm{sup 2} V{sup −1} s{sup −1} at n = 3.7 × 10{sup 18} cm{sup −3}.

OSTI ID:
22273555
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, Issue 15; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English