1. Structural and optical characterization of GaN heteroepitaxial films on SiC substrates
- Author
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April S. Brown, Giovanni Bruno, Maria Losurdo, Michael A. Morse, Soojeong Choi, Pae Wu, and Tong-Ho Kim
- Subjects
Materials science ,business.industry ,Oxide ,Nucleation ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Surfaces and Interfaces ,General Chemistry ,Nitride ,Condensed Matter Physics ,Epitaxy ,Crystallographic defect ,Surfaces, Coatings and Films ,Carbide ,Crystallography ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,chemistry ,X-ray crystallography ,Optoelectronics ,Dislocation ,business - Abstract
We have estimated the threading dislocation density and type via X-ray diffraction and Williamson–Hall analysis to elicit qualitative information directly related to the electrical and optical quality of GaN epitaxial layers grown by PAMBE on 4H- and 6H-SiC substrates. The substrate surface preparation and buffer choice, specifically: Ga flashing for SiC oxide removal, controlled nitridation of SiC, and use of AlN buffer layers all impact the resultant screw dislocation density, but do not significantly influence the edge dislocation density. We show that modification of the substrate surface strongly affects the screw dislocation density, presumably due to impact on nucleation during the initial stages of heteroepitaxy.
- Published
- 2006