Mechanisms of the sidewall facet evolution in lateral epitaxial overgrowth of GaN by MOCVD

The lateral epitaxial overgrowth of GaN was carried out by low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition, and the cross section shape of the stripes was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Inclined {11-2n} facets (n approximate to 1-2.5) were observed in the initial growth, and they changed gradually into the vertical {11-20} sidewalls in accordance with the process of the lateral overgrowth. A model was proposed utilizing diffusion equations and boundary conditions to simulate the concentration of the Ga species constituent throughout the concentration boundary layer. Solutions to these equations are found using the two-dimensional, finite element method. We suggest that the observed evolution of sidewall facets results from the variation of the local V/III ratio during the process of lateral overgrowth induced by the lateral supply of the Ga species from the SiNx mask regions to the growing GaN regions.

Nitrogen vacancy scattering in GaN grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy

Electron mobility limited by nitrogen vacancy scattering was taken into account to evaluate the quality of n-type GaN grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy. Two assumptions were made for this potential for the nitrogen vacancy (1) it acts in a short range, and (2) does not diverge at the vacancy core. According to the above assumptions, a general expression to describe the scattering potential U(r) = - U-0 exp[- (r/beta)(n)], (n = 1, 2,...,infinity) was constructed, where beta is the potential well width. The mobilities for n = 1, 2, and infinity were calculated based on this equation, corresponding to the simple exponential, Gaussian and square well scattering potentials, respectively. In the limiting case of kbeta << 1 (where k is the wave vector), all of the mobilities calculated for n = 1, 2, and infinity showed a same result but different prefactor. Such difference was discussed in terms of the potential tail and was found that all of the calculated mobilities have T-1/2 temperature and beta(-6) well width dependences. A mobility taking account of a spatially complicate scattering potential was studied and the same temperature dependence was also found. A best fit between the calculated results and experimental data was obtained by taking account of the nitrogen vacancy scattering. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparative study on the broadening of exciton luminescence linewidth due to phonon in zinc-blende and wurtzite GaN epilayers

Linewidth broadening of exciton luminescence in wurtzite and zinc-blende GaN epilayers was investigated as a function of temperature with photoluminescence. A widely accepted theoretical model was used to fit the experimental data, so that the coupling parameters between exciton and acoustic and longitudinal optical phonons were obtained for both structures. It was found that the coupling constants of both exciton-acoustic optical phonon coupling and exciton-longitudinal optical phonon coupling for zinc-blende GaN are almost twice as much as the corresponding values of wurtzite GaN. These results show that the relatively strong exciton-phonon scattering seems to be characteristic to zinc-blende GaN film. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Growth mode and strain evolution during InN growth on GaN(0001) by molecular-beam epitaxy

Epitaxial growth of InN on GaN(0001) by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy is investigated over a range of growth parameters including source flux and substrate temperature. Combining reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we establish a relationship between film growth mode and the deposition condition. Both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) growth modes of the film are observed. For 2D growth, sustained RHEED intensity oscillations are recorded while STM reveals 2D nucleation islands. For 3D growth, less than three oscillation periods are observed indicating the Stranski-Krastanov (SK) growth mode of the film. Simultaneous measurements of (reciprocal) lattice constant by RHEED suggest a gradual relaxation of the strain in film, which commences during the first bilayer (BL) deposition and almost completes after 2-4 BLs. For SK growth, 3D islanding initiates after the strain has mostly been relieved, presumably by dislocations, so the islands are likely strain free. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Crystallographic tilt in GaN layers grown by epitaxial lateral overgrowth

The crystallographic tilt in GaN layers grown by epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) on sapphire (0001) substrates was investigated by using double crystal X-ray diffraction (DC-XRD). It was found that ELO GaN stripes bent towards the SiNx mask in the direction perpendicular to seeding lines. Each side of GaN (0002) peak in DC-XRD rocking curves was a broad peak related with the crystallographic tilt. This broad peak split into two peaks (denoted as A and B), and peak B disappeared gradually when the mask began to be removed by selective etching. Only narrow peak A remained when the SiNx mask was removed completely. A model based on these results has been developed to show that there are two factors responsible for the crystallographic tilt: One is the non-uniformity elastic deformation caused by the interphase force between the ELO GaN layer and the SiNx mask. The other is the plastic deformation, which is attributed to the change of the threading dislocations (TDs)-from vertical in the window regions to the lateral in the regions over the mask.

Thermal annealing behaviour of Ni/Au on n-GaN Schottky contacts

The Schottky behaviour of Ni/Au contact on n-GaN was investigated under various annealing conditions by current-voltage (I-V) measurements. A non-linear fitting method was used to extract the contact parameters from the I-V characteristic curves. Experimental results indicate that high quality Schottky contact with a barrier height and ideality factor of 0.86 +/- 0.02 eV and 1.19 +/- 0.02 eV, respectively, can be obtained under 5 min annealing at 600degreesC in N-2 ambience.

Structural characterization of epitaxial lateral overgrown GaN on patterned GaN/GaAs(001) substrates

Epitaxial lateral overgrown (ELO) cubic GaN (c-GaN) on SiO2 patterned GaN/GaAs(0 0 1) substrates by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy was investigated using transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. The density of stacking faults (SFs) in ELO c-GaN was similar to6 x 10(8) cm(-2), while that in underlying GaN template was similar to5 x 10(9) cm(-2). XRD measurements showed that the full-width at half-maximum of c-GaN (0 0 2) rocking curve decreased from 33 to 17.8 arcmin, indicating the improved crystalline quality of ELO c-GaN. The mechanism of SF reduction in ELO c-GaN was also discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Study of GaN thin films grown on vicinal SiC (0001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy

A detailed study of the characteristics of undoped GaN films, grown on either vicinal or nominal flat SiC (0001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy, has been carried out using photoluminescence and Raman scattering techniques. The I I K photoluminescence spectra of the GaN film grown on the vicinal SiC (0001) substrate show a strong and sharp near-bandgap peak (full width at half maximum (FWHM) similar to 16 meV). This feature contrasts with that of the GaN film grown on the nominal flat SiC (0001) substrate where the I I K photoluminescence spectra exhibit the near-bandgap peak (FWHM similar to 25 meV) and the intensity is approximately seven times weaker than that of the vicinal film sample. The redshift of the near-bandgap peak associated with excitons bound to shallow donors is related to the stress caused by both the lattice mismatch and the thermal expansion coefficient difference between GaN and SiC substrates. The measured thermal activation energy of the shallow donor of 33.4 meV is determined by using an Arrhenius plot of the near-bandgap luminescence versus I IT from the slope of the graph at high temperature. The temperature dependence of the FWHM of the near-bandgap luminescence has also been studied. The Raman scattering measurements from the vicinal film reveal that the E-2 phonon peak is strengthened and the A(1)(LO) phonon peak is shifted towards the low-frequency side with enhanced intensity, in comparison to that from the nominal flat film, suggesting a reduction in the density of defects and a lower free carrier concentration in the vicinal GaN film.

SiO2/Ta interface reaction in magnetic multilayers and its influence on Ta buffer layers

Ta is often used as a buffer layer in magnetic multilayers. In this study, Ta/Ni81Fe19/Ta multilayers were deposited by magnetron sputtering on sing-crystal Si with a 300-nm-thick SiO2 film. The composition and chemical states at the interface region of SiO2/Ta were studied using the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and peak decomposition technique. The results show that there is an 'inter-mixing layer" at the SiO2/Ta interface due to a thermodynamically favorable reaction: 15 SiO2 + 37 Ta = 6 Ta2O5 + 5 Ta5Si3. Therefore, the Ta buffer layer thickness used to induce NiFe (111) texture increases.

Polarity determination for GaN thin films by electron energy-loss spectroscopy

The intensity of the N K edge in electron energy-loss spectra from a GaN thin film shows a pronounced difference when the orientation of the film approaches the (0002) and (000-2) Bragg reflections, along the polar direction. This experimental result can be interpreted by the effect associated with interference between the Bloch waves of the incident electron in the GaN crystal. The theoretical calculations indicate that, at the Bragg condition of g=0002 along the Ga-N bond direction, the thickness-averaged electron current density on the N atom plane is much higher than that at g=000 (2) over bar, with a maximum as the specimen thickness is about 0.4xi(0002) (the two-beam extinction distance). The delocalization effect on the experimental spectra is also discussed. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Photoluminescence and capacitance transients in highly Mg-doped GaN

Behaviors of the photoluminescence blue-band and near-bandgap peak and the relevant thermal ionization energies of the shallow and deep Mg-related acceptors have been studied, respectively. The 2.989 eV blue-band is attributed to the deep donor-acceptor-pair transitions involving a deep Mg-related acceptor at E-v+0.427 eV. The blueshift with increasing excitation power is explained by variation in the contribution of close and distant donor-acceptor-pairs to the luminescence. The redshift with increasing temperature results from thermal release of carriers from close donor-acceptor-pairs. The 3.26 eV near-bandgap peak is attributed to the shallow donor-acceptor-pair transitions involving a shallow Mg-related acceptor at E-v+0.223 eV. The relevant thermal ionization energies of the shallow and deep Mg-related acceptors, being about E-v+0.16 and E-v+0.50eV, are determined from deep-level transient Fourier spectroscopy measurements.

Investigation on the origin of crystallographic tilt in lateral epitaxial overgrown GaN using selective etching

The crystallographic tilt of the lateral epitaxial overgrown (LEO) GaN on sapphire Substrate with SiNx mask is investiaated by double crystal X-ray diffraction. Two wing peaks beside the GaN 0002 peak can be observed for the as-grown LEO GaN. During the selective etching of SiNx mask, each wing peak splits into two peaks, one of which disappears as the mask is removed, while the other remains unchanged. This indicates that the crystallographic tilt of the overgrown region is caused not only by the plastic deformation resulted from the bending of threading dislocations, but by the non-uniformity elastic deformation related with the GaN, SiNx interfacial forces. The widths of these two peaks are also studied in this paper. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Depth dependence of the tetragonal distortion of a GaN layer on Si(111) studied by Rutherford backscattering/channeling

Rutherford backscattering and channeling have been used to characterize the structure of a GaN layer grown on a Si(111) substrate. The results show that a 1.26 mum GaN epitaxial layer with a rather abrupt interface and a good crystalline quality (chi(min)=3.4%) can be grown on a Si(111) substrate. Using the channeling angular scan around an off-normal <1 (2) over bar 13> axis in the {10 (1) over bar0} plane of the GaN layer, the tetragonal distortion e(T), which is caused by the elastic strain in the epilayer, can be determined. Moreover, the depth dependence of the e(T) can be obtained using this technique. A fully relaxed (e(T)=0) GaN layer for a thickness <2.8 mum is expected. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Wafer bonding technique used for the integration of cubic GaN/GaAs (001) with Si substrate

We successfully used the metal mediated-wafer bonding technique in transferring the as-grown cubic GaN LED structure of Si substrate. The absorbing GaAs substrate was removed by using the chemical solutions of NH4OH : H2O2=1 : 10. SEM and PL results show that wafer bonding technique could transfer the cubic GaN epilayers uniformly to Si without affecting the physical and optical properties of epilayers. XRD result shows that there appeared new peaks related to AgGa2 and Ni4N diffraction, indicating that the metals used as adhesive and protective layers interacted with the p-GaN layer during the long annealing process. It is just the reaction that ensures the reliability of the integration of GaN with metal and minor contact resistance on the interface.

Effects of residual C and O impurities on photoluminescence in undoped GaN epilayers

Photoluminescence (PL) was investigated in undoped GaN from 4.8 K to room temperature. The 4.8 K spectra exhibited recombinations of free exciton, donor-acceptor pair (DAP), blue and yellow bands (Ybs). The blue band (BB) was also identified to be a DAP recombination. The YB was assigned to a recombination from deep levels. The energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy show that C and O are the main residual impurities in undoped GaN and that C concentration is lower in the epilayers with the stronger BB. The electronic structures of native defects, C and O impurities, and their complexes were calculated using ab initio local-density-functional (LDF) methods with linear muffin-tin-orbital and 72-atomic supercell. The theoretical analyses suggest that the electron transitions from O-N states to C-N and to V-Ga states are responsible for DAP and the BB, respectively, and the electron transitions between the inner levels of the C-N-O-N complex may be responsible for the YB in our samples. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.