A new approach to epitaxially grow high-quality GaN films on Si substrates: the combination of MBE and PLD.
High-quality GaN epitaxial films have been grown on Si substrates with Al buffer layer by the combination of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technologies. MBE is used to grow Al buffer layer at first, and then PLD is deployed to grow GaN epitaxial films on the Al buffer layer. The surface morphology, crystalline quality, and interfacial property of as-grown GaN epitaxial films on Si substrates are studied systematically. The as-grown ~300 nm-thick GaN epitaxial films grown at 850 °C with ~30 nm-thick Al buffer layer on Si substrates show high crystalline quality with the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) for GaN(0002) and GaN(102) X-ray rocking curves of 0.45° and 0.61°, respectively; very flat GaN surface with the root-mean-square surface roughness of 2.5 nm; as well as the sharp and abrupt GaN/AlGaN/Al/Si hetero-interfaces. Furthermore, the corresponding growth mechanism of GaN epitaxial films grown on Si substrates with Al buffer layer by the combination of MBE and PLD is hence studied in depth. This work provides a novel and simple approach for the epitaxial growth of high-quality GaN epitaxial films on Si substrates.
State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.|Engineering Research Center on Solid-State Lighting and its Informationisation of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Wenliang
W
Wang
State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.|Engineering Research Center on Solid-State Lighting and its Informationisation of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Haiyan
H
Wang
State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.|Engineering Research Center on Solid-State Lighting and its Informationisation of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Weijia
W
Yang
State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.|Engineering Research Center on Solid-State Lighting and its Informationisation of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Yunnong
Y
Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.|Engineering Research Center on Solid-State Lighting and its Informationisation of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.|Department of Electronic Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Guoqiang
G
Li