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The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of a new type of compliant substrate based on an AlGaAs superstructure layer (SL) and a protoporous Si (proto-Si) layer formed on a crystal Si (c-Si) layer on the practical implementation and specific features of the epitaxial growth of GaAs layers by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition. It is for the first time shown that the low-temperature growth of high-crystal-quality epitaxial GaAs films can be implemented due to the use of compliant SL/proto-Si substrates. The introduction of a SL into the composition of a compliant substrate in addition to proto-Si makes it possible to neutralize a number of negative effects of low-temperature growth, to reduce the level of stresses in the epitaxial layer, to protect it from self-doping with Si atoms, to reduce the number of technological operations of the growth of transition buffer layers, and to improve the structural and morphological characteristics of the epitaxial layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A set of structural and spectroscopic methods of diagnostics is used to study the influence of a nanoporous silicon (por-Si) transition layer on the practical implementation and specific features of growth of GaN layers on SiC/por-Si/c-Si templates by molecular-beam epitaxy with the plasma activation of nitrogen. It is shown that a por-Si transition layer introduced into a template, in which a 3C-SiC layer is created by the method of atom substitution, offers unquestionable advantages over standard silicon substrates. Specifically, such an approach makes it possible to lower the level of stresses in the crystal lattice of the epitaxial GaN layer by about 90% and to reduce the fraction of vertical dislocations in the GaN layer. The GaN layer is grown on the surface of the SiC layer, which in turn is on the surface of the SiC/por-Si/c-Si template. It is found for the first time that the use of the SiC/por-Si/c-Si template brings about the formation of a qualitatively more uniform GaN layer free of visible extended defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]