Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T06:30:58.586Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Development of Homoepitaxially Grown GaN Thin Film Layers on Freestanding Bulk m-plane Substrates by Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Vibhu Jindal
Affiliation:
[email protected], University at Albany, College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, 255 Fuller Road, University at Albany, Albany, NY, 12203, United States
James Grandusky
Affiliation:
[email protected], University at Albany, College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, 255 Fuller Road, Albany, NY, 12203, United States
Neeraj Tripathi
Affiliation:
[email protected], University at Albany, College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, 255 Fuller Road, Albany, NY, 12203, United States
Mihir Tungare
Affiliation:
[email protected], University at Albany, College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, 255 Fuller Road, Albany, NY, 12203, United States
Fatemeh Shahedipour-Sandvik
Affiliation:
[email protected], University at Albany, College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, 255 Fuller Road, Albany, NY, 12203, United States
Peter Sandvik
Affiliation:
[email protected], General Electric, Global Research Centre, Niskayuna, NY, 12309, United States
Vinayak Tilak
Affiliation:
[email protected], General Electric, Global Research Centre, Niskayuna, NY, 12309, United States
Get access

Abstract

High quality homoepitaxial growth of m-plane GaN films on freestanding m-plane HVPE GaN substrates has been performed using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. For this a large growth space was studied. Large areas of no-nucleation along with presence of high density of defects were observed when layers were grown under growth conditions for c-plane GaN. It is believed that these structural defects were in large part due to the low lateral growth rates as well as unequal lateral growth rates in a- and c- crystallographic directions. To achieve high quality, fully coalesced epitaxial layers, growth conditions were optimized with respect to growth temperature, V/III ratios and reactor pressure. Higher growth temperatures led to smoother surfaces due to increased surface diffusion of adatoms. Overall, growth at higher temperature and lower V/III ratio decreased the surface roughness and resulted in better optical properties as observed by photoluminescence. Although optimization resulted in highly smooth layers, some macroscopic defects were still observed on the epi-surface as a result of contamination and subsurface damage remaining on bulk substrates possibly due to polishing. Addition of a step involving annealing of the bulk substrate under H2: N2 environment, prior to growth, drastically reduced such macroscopic defects.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Nakamura, Shuji, Senoh, Masayuki, Mukai, Takashi, Jpn. J. of Appl. Phys., 30, L 1708, (1991).Google Scholar
2. The Blue Laser Diodes, Nakamura, Shuji, 2nd Ed., Springler-Verlag, (2000).Google Scholar
3. Eickhoff, M., Ambacher, O., Steinhoff, G., Schalwig, J., Neuberger, R., Palacios, T., Monroy, E., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 693, I12.1.1, (2002).Google Scholar
4. Bernardini, F., Fiorentini, V., Vanderbilt, D., Phys. Rev. B, 56, R10024, (1997).Google Scholar
5. Bernardini, F., Fiorentini, V., phys. stat. sol. (a), 190, 65, (2002).10.1002/1521-396X(200203)190:1<65::AID-PSSA65>3.0.CO;2-03.0.CO;2-0>Google Scholar
6. Im, Jin Seo, Kollmer, H., Off, J., Sohmer, A., Scholz, F., and Hangleiter, A., Phys. Rev. B, 57, R 9435, (1998).Google Scholar
7. Waltereit, P., Brandt, O., Ramsteiner, M., Uecker, R., Reiche, P., Ploog, K. H., J. Crytal Growth, 218, 143, (2000).10.1016/S0022-0248(00)00605-9Google Scholar
8. Craven, M. D., Lim, S. H., Wu, F., Speck, J. S., and DenBaars, S. P., Appl. Phys. Lett., 81, 469, (2002).Google Scholar
9. Tuomisto, F., Paskova, T., Kröger, R., Figge, S., and Hommel, D., Monemar, B., Kersting, R., Appl. Phys. Lett., 90, 121915, (2007).Google Scholar
10. Liliental-Weber, Z., Jasinski, J., Zakharov, D. N., Opto-Electron. Rev., 12, 339, (2004).Google Scholar
11. Gerlach, J. W., Hofmann, A., Höche, T., Frost, F., Rauschenbach, B., Benndorf, G., Appl. Phys. Lett., 88, 011902, (2006).Google Scholar
12. Trampert, A., Liu, T.Y., Brandt, O., Ploog, K.H., J. Phys. IV France, 132, 221, (2006).Google Scholar
13. Grzegory, I., Jun, J., Krukowski, S., and Porowski, S., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 32, 346, (1993).10.7567/JJAPS.32S1.346Google Scholar
14. Melnik, Y. V., Vassilevski, K. V., Nikitina, I. P., Babanin, A. I., Davidov, V. Y., and Dmitriev, V. A., MRS Internet J. Nitride Semicond. Res., 2, 39, (1997).Google Scholar
15. Grandusky, J. R., Jamil, M., Jindal, V., Shahedipour-Sandvik, F., Lu, H., Cao, X., Kaminsky, E. B., Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., 916, 0916–DD05 (2006)Google Scholar
16. Grandusky, J. R., Jindal, V., Tripathi, N., Shahedipour-Sandvik, F., Lu, H., Kaminsky, E. B., Melkote, R., J. Crystal Growth, 307, 309, (2007).Google Scholar
17. Jindal, V.. Grandusky, J. R., Jamil, M., Irissou, E., Shahedipour-Sandvik, F., Matocha, K., Tilak, V., phys. stat. sol. (c), 3, 1792, (2006).Google Scholar
18. Hirai, A., Haskell, B. A., McLaurin, M. B., Wu, F., Schmidt, M. C., Kim, K. C., Baker, T. J., DenBaars, S. P., Nakamura, S., and Speck, J. S., Appl. Phys. Lett., 90, 121119, (2007).Google Scholar
19. Imer, Bilge M., Wu, Feng, DenBaars, Steven P., Speck, James S., Appl. Phys. Lett., 88, 061908, (2006).Google Scholar
20. Grandusky, J. R., Jindal, V., Jamil, M. and Shahedipour-Sandvik, F., Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., 892, 0892–FF27, (2006).Google Scholar