TY - JOUR
T1 - Growth of SiC and III-V nitride thin films via gas-source molecular beam epitaxy and their characterization
AU - Davis, Robert F.
AU - Tanaka, S.
AU - Rowland, L. B.
AU - Kern, R. S.
AU - Sitar, Z.
AU - Ailey, S. K.
AU - Wang, C.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors express their appreciation to the Office of Naval Research for support of this research under Grant No. N00014-92-J-1500 and to Cree Research, Inc., for the 6H-wafers. Appreciation is also expressed to Drs. P. Pirouz, Z. Ning and F.-R. Chen of Case Western Reserve University and Dr. J. Bentley for helpful discussions.
PY - 1996/7
Y1 - 1996/7
N2 - Silicon carbide (SiC) and aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films have been grown on 6H-SiC(0001) substrates by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy (GSMBE) at 1050°C. Step flow, step bunching and the deposition of 6H-SiC occurred at the outset of the exposure of the (1 X 1) vicinal substrate surface to C2H4/Si2H6 gas flow ratios of 1, 2 and 10. Subsequent deposition resulted in step flow and continued growth of 6H films or formation and coalescence of 3C-SiC islands using the gas flow ratio of one or the ethylene-rich ratios, respectively. The (3 X 3) surface reconstruction observed using the former ratio is believed to enhance the diffusion lengths of the adatoms, which in turn promotes step flow growth. Essentially atomically flat monocrystalline AlN surfaces were obtained using on-axis substrates. Island-like features were observed on the vicinal surface. The coalescence of the latter features at steps gave rise to inversion domain boundaries (IDBs) as a result of the misalignment of the Si/C bilayer steps with the AlN bilayers in the growing film. The quality of thicker AlN films is strongly influenced by the concentration of IDBs. Undoped, highly resistive (102 Ω · cm) and Mg-doped, p-type (0.3 Ω · cm) monocrystalline GaN films having a thickness of 0.4-0.5 μm have also been grown via the same technique on AlN buffer layers without post-processing annealing.
AB - Silicon carbide (SiC) and aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films have been grown on 6H-SiC(0001) substrates by gas-source molecular beam epitaxy (GSMBE) at 1050°C. Step flow, step bunching and the deposition of 6H-SiC occurred at the outset of the exposure of the (1 X 1) vicinal substrate surface to C2H4/Si2H6 gas flow ratios of 1, 2 and 10. Subsequent deposition resulted in step flow and continued growth of 6H films or formation and coalescence of 3C-SiC islands using the gas flow ratio of one or the ethylene-rich ratios, respectively. The (3 X 3) surface reconstruction observed using the former ratio is believed to enhance the diffusion lengths of the adatoms, which in turn promotes step flow growth. Essentially atomically flat monocrystalline AlN surfaces were obtained using on-axis substrates. Island-like features were observed on the vicinal surface. The coalescence of the latter features at steps gave rise to inversion domain boundaries (IDBs) as a result of the misalignment of the Si/C bilayer steps with the AlN bilayers in the growing film. The quality of thicker AlN films is strongly influenced by the concentration of IDBs. Undoped, highly resistive (102 Ω · cm) and Mg-doped, p-type (0.3 Ω · cm) monocrystalline GaN films having a thickness of 0.4-0.5 μm have also been grown via the same technique on AlN buffer layers without post-processing annealing.
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U2 - 10.1016/0022-0248(95)01023-8
DO - 10.1016/0022-0248(95)01023-8
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0030189473
SN - 0022-0248
VL - 164
SP - 132
EP - 142
JO - Journal of Crystal Growth
JF - Journal of Crystal Growth
IS - 1-4
ER -