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Title: Growth kinetics of AlN and GaN films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on R-plane sapphire substrates

Abstract

This paper reports the growth by molecular beam epitaxy of AlN and GaN thin films on R-plane sapphire substrates. Contrary to previous findings that GaN grows with its (1120) A-plane parallel to the (1102) R-plane of sapphire, our results indicate that the crystallographic orientation of the III-nitride films is strongly dependent on the kinetic conditions of growth for the GaN or AlN buffer layers. Thus, group III-rich conditions for growth of either GaN or AlN buffers result in nitride films having (1120) planes parallel to the sapphire surface, and basal-plane stacking faults parallel to the growth direction. The growth of these buffers under N-rich conditions instead leads to nitride films with (1126) planes parallel to the sapphire surface, with inclined c-plane stacking faults that often terminate threading dislocations. Moreover, electron microscope observations indicate that slight miscut ({approx}0.5 deg. ) of the R-plane sapphire substrate almost completely suppresses the formation of twinning defects in the (1126) GaN films.

Authors:
;  [1]; ;  [2]; ;  [3]
  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215 (United States)
  2. Physics Department, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215 (United States)
  3. Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
21476421
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Applied Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 108; Journal Issue: 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3475521; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; Journal ID: ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; ALUMINIUM NITRIDES; CRYSTAL GROWTH; CRYSTALS; DISLOCATIONS; ELECTRON MICROSCOPY; GALLIUM NITRIDES; LAYERS; MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY; ORIENTATION; SAPPHIRE; SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS; STACKING FAULTS; SUBSTRATES; SURFACES; THIN FILMS; TWINNING; ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS; CORUNDUM; CRYSTAL DEFECTS; CRYSTAL GROWTH METHODS; CRYSTAL STRUCTURE; EPITAXY; FILMS; GALLIUM COMPOUNDS; LINE DEFECTS; MATERIALS; MICROSCOPY; MINERALS; NITRIDES; NITROGEN COMPOUNDS; OXIDE MINERALS; PNICTIDES

Citation Formats

Chandrasekaran, R, Moustakas, T D, Ozcan, A S, Ludwig, K F, Zhou, L, and Smith, David J. Growth kinetics of AlN and GaN films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on R-plane sapphire substrates. United States: N. p., 2010. Web. doi:10.1063/1.3475521.
Chandrasekaran, R, Moustakas, T D, Ozcan, A S, Ludwig, K F, Zhou, L, & Smith, David J. Growth kinetics of AlN and GaN films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on R-plane sapphire substrates. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3475521
Chandrasekaran, R, Moustakas, T D, Ozcan, A S, Ludwig, K F, Zhou, L, and Smith, David J. 2010. "Growth kinetics of AlN and GaN films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on R-plane sapphire substrates". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3475521.
@article{osti_21476421,
title = {Growth kinetics of AlN and GaN films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on R-plane sapphire substrates},
author = {Chandrasekaran, R and Moustakas, T D and Ozcan, A S and Ludwig, K F and Zhou, L and Smith, David J},
abstractNote = {This paper reports the growth by molecular beam epitaxy of AlN and GaN thin films on R-plane sapphire substrates. Contrary to previous findings that GaN grows with its (1120) A-plane parallel to the (1102) R-plane of sapphire, our results indicate that the crystallographic orientation of the III-nitride films is strongly dependent on the kinetic conditions of growth for the GaN or AlN buffer layers. Thus, group III-rich conditions for growth of either GaN or AlN buffers result in nitride films having (1120) planes parallel to the sapphire surface, and basal-plane stacking faults parallel to the growth direction. The growth of these buffers under N-rich conditions instead leads to nitride films with (1126) planes parallel to the sapphire surface, with inclined c-plane stacking faults that often terminate threading dislocations. Moreover, electron microscope observations indicate that slight miscut ({approx}0.5 deg. ) of the R-plane sapphire substrate almost completely suppresses the formation of twinning defects in the (1126) GaN films.},
doi = {10.1063/1.3475521},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/21476421}, journal = {Journal of Applied Physics},
issn = {0021-8979},
number = 4,
volume = 108,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010},
month = {Sun Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010}
}