Growth of GaN by ECR-assisted MBE

Abstract

High-quality GaN films have been grown on a variety of substrates by electron cyclotron resonance microwave plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (ECR-MBE). The films were grown in two steps. First, a GaN-buffer was grown at low temperature and then the rest of the film was grown at higher temperatures. We found that this method of growth leads to a relatively small two-dimensional nucleation rate (∼20 nuclei/μm2 h) and high lateral growth rate (100 times faster than the vertical growth rate). This type of quasi-layer-by-layer growth results in a smooth surface morphology to within 100 Å. Growth on Si(1 0 0) leads to single-crystalline GaN films having the zinc-blende structure. Growth on Si(1 1 1) leads to GaN films having the wurtzitic structure with a large concentration of stacking faults. The crystallographic orientation and the surface morphology of GaN films on sapphire depends on the orientation of sapphire. To this date, the best films were grown on the basal plane of sapphire.