DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Controlling surface adatom kinetics for improved structural and optical properties of high indium content aluminum indium nitride

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5142295 · OSTI ID:1605953

A non-traditional, for AlInN, method of controlling adatom kinetics and a low temperature growth condition were employed to improve the quality of high indium content aluminum indium nitride films. Metal-rich surfaces were used to enhance adatom mobility and compensate for the low growth temperature (Tsub ≤ 400 °C) effect of reducing surface diffusion lengths. The metal-rich approach resulted in 12 times lower x-ray diffraction full-width at half-maximum rocking curve figures of merit when compared to literature. In addition to promising photoluminescence emission, these results indicate improved structural quality over other reported approaches. AlInN films with ∼70% indium content were characterized via x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy with each technique indicating an optimal growth temperature of 350 °C. Al0.3In0.7N grown above 400 °C exhibited phase separation and a reduction in quality, while samples grown colder were predominantly single-phase and displayed improved photoluminescence at ∼1.45 eV. The photoluminescence spectra suggest emission from quantum wire-like structures with dimensions ranging from 15 to 18 nm. These low-temperature, metal-rich findings for high indium content AlInN are promising for future long-wavelength III-nitride optical devices.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SG DMR-1710032
OSTI ID:
1605953
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Vol. 127 Journal Issue: 12; ISSN 0021-8979
Publisher:
American Institute of PhysicsCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (29)

Observation and control of the surface kinetics of InGaN for the elimination of phase separation journal July 2012
Observation and mitigation of RF-plasma-induced damage to III-nitrides grown by molecular beam epitaxy journal July 2019
Energy Levels in Quantum Wires with Finite Barrier Potential journal October 1993
Small-signal characteristics of AlInN/GaN HEMTs journal January 2006
Improvement of quantum efficiency by employing active-layer-friendly lattice-matched InAlN electron blocking layer in green light-emitting diodes journal March 2010
Observation of columnar microstructure in lattice-matched InAlN/GaN grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy journal June 2012
Growth and Characterization of AlInN Ternary Alloys in Whole Composition Range and Fabrication of InN/AlInN Multiple Quantum Wells by RF Molecular Beam Epitaxy journal May 2006
Metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy and properties of AlInN in the whole compositional range journal January 2007
Band gap bowing for high In content InAlN films journal July 2019
Phase separation in InGaN grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition journal January 1998
Deposition and characterization of reactive magnetron sputtered aluminum nitride thin films for film bulk acoustic wave resonator journal April 2007
Effects of AlN thickness on structural and transport properties of In-rich n-AlInN/AlN/p-Si(0 0 1) heterojunctions grown by magnetron sputtering journal February 2013
Structural and electrical characterization of InN, InGaN, and p-InGaN grown by metal-modulated epitaxy
  • Moseley, Michael; Gunning, Brendan; Lowder, Jonathan
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, Nanotechnology and Microelectronics: Materials, Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena, Vol. 31, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4790865
journal May 2013
Surfactant effect of In for AlGaN growth by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy journal February 2003
Quality improvement of AlInN/p-Si heterojunctions with AlN buffer layer deposited by RF-sputtering journal November 2018
Control of ion content and nitrogen species using a mixed chemistry plasma for GaN grown at extremely high growth rates >9  μ m/h by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy journal October 2015
Thermodynamic Stability and Redistribution of Charges in Ternary AlGaN, InGaN, and InAlN Alloys journal January 2005
A growth diagram for plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy of In-face InN journal September 2007
Influence of the AlInN Thickness on the Photovoltaic Characteristics of AlInN on Si Solar Cells Deposited by RF Sputtering journal September 2018
Observation of vertical honeycomb structure in InAlN∕GaN heterostructures due to lateral phase separation journal February 2007
Role of threading dislocation structure on the x‐ray diffraction peak widths in epitaxial GaN films journal January 1996
Ultra-wide-bandgap AlGaN homojunction tunnel diodes with negative differential resistance journal August 2019
Atmospheric-pressure MOVPE growth of In-rich InAlN journal May 2008
Magnetron-sputter deposition of high-indium-content n -AlInN thin film on p -Si(001) substrate for photovoltaic applications journal September 2012
Control of surface adatom kinetics for the growth of high-indium content InGaN throughout the miscibility gap journal November 2010
High-quality AlInN for high index contrast Bragg mirrors lattice matched to GaN journal July 2003
Photovoltaic Technology: The Case for Thin-Film Solar Cells journal July 1999
High indium content homogenous InAlN layers grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy journal November 2016
A review of the synthesis of reduced defect density InxGa1−xN for all indium compositions journal October 2017