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A Study of the Decomposition of GaN during Annealing over a Wide Range of Temperatures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2011

M. A. Rana
Affiliation:
Research Center for Nuclear Microscopy, Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542
H. W. Choi
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Center for Optoelectronics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119260
M. B. H. Breese
Affiliation:
Research Center for Nuclear Microscopy, Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542
T. Osipowicz
Affiliation:
Research Center for Nuclear Microscopy, Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542
S. J. Chua
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical Engineering, Center for Optoelectronics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119260
F. Watt
Affiliation:
Research Center for Nuclear Microscopy, Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117542
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Abstract

Annealing experiments were carried out on gallium nitride layers, which were grown on sapphire through Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD). Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) was performed on as-grown and annealed GaN samples using a 2 MeV proton beam to study the stoichiometric changes in the near-surface region (750 nm) with depth resolution better than 50 nm. No decomposition was measured for temperatures o up to 800 °C. Decomposition in the near-surface region increased rapidly with a further increase o of temperature, resulting in a near-amorphous surface-region for annealing at 1100 °C. The depth profiles of nitrogen and incorporated oxygen in the decomposed GaN are extracted from the nanoscale RBS data for different annealing temperatures. The surface roughness of the GaN layers observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) is consistent with RBS decomposition measurements. We describe the range of annealing conditions under which negligible decomposition of GaN is observed, which is important in assessing optimal thermal processing conditions of GaN for both conventional and nanoscale optoelectronic devices.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2003

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