Defect reduction mechanisms in the nanoheteroepitaxy of GaN on SiC
- 1 February 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Journal of Applied Physics
- Vol. 95 (3), 1450-1454
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1639952
Abstract
This article describes defect reduction mechanisms that are active during the growth of GaN by nanoheteroepitaxy on (0001) 6H SiC. Nanoheteroepitaxial (NHE) and planar GaN epitaxial films were grown and compared using transmission electron microscopy, photoluminescence, x-ray diffraction, and time resolved photoluminescence. It was found that in addition to the previously reported defect reduction mechanism that results from the high compliance of nanoscale nuclei, other independent defect reduction mechanisms are also active during NHE including: (i) filtering of substrate defects, (ii) improved coalescence at the nanoscale, and (iii) defect termination at local free surfaces. Also, it was found that the biaxial strain in the GaN film could be significantly reduced by using a “grouped” NHE pattern geometry. Time resolved photoluminescence measurements on NHE GaN samples with this geometry showed a more than tenfold increase in carrier lifetime compared to GaN grown on planar SiC.Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Investigations regarding the maskless pendeo-epitaxial growth of GaN films prior to coalescenceIEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 2002
- Low-dislocation-density GaN from a single growth on a textured substrateApplied Physics Letters, 2000
- Nanoheteroepitaxial growth of GaN on Si by organometallic vapor phase epitaxyApplied Physics Letters, 2000
- Nanoheteroepitaxy: The Application of nanostructuring and substrate compliance to the heteroepitaxy of mismatched semiconductor materialsJournal of Applied Physics, 1999
- Electrical characterization of GaN p-n junctions with and without threading dislocationsApplied Physics Letters, 1998
- InGaN/GaN/AlGaN-based laser diodes with modulation-doped strained-layer superlattices grown on an epitaxially laterally overgrown GaN substrateApplied Physics Letters, 1998
- Dislocation density reduction via lateral epitaxy in selectively grown GaN structuresApplied Physics Letters, 1997
- Stability and interface abruptness of InxGa1−xN/InyGa1−yN multiple quantum well structures grown by OMVPEJournal of Electronic Materials, 1997
- Anisotropic epitaxial lateral growth in GaN selective area epitaxyApplied Physics Letters, 1997
- New approach to the high quality epitaxial growth of lattice-mismatched materialsApplied Physics Letters, 1986