Nitrogen-polar growth of AlN on vicinal (0001) sapphire by MOVPE

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Pampili, Pietro, Pristovsek, Markus
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Pampili, Pietro
Pristovsek, Markus
author_facet Pampili, Pietro
Pristovsek, Markus
contents We report about metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy of smooth nitrogen-polar AlN templates on vicinal (0001) sapphire substrates. The influence of V/III ratio, growth temperature, growth rate, as well as sapphire-nitridation time and temperature were studied. With 4° offcut sapphire, step-flow growth was possible only with V/III ratios below 2. However, optimal V/III ratio required precise adjustment, possibly dependent on reactor history and geometry. A rather narrow temperature window of less than 40°C existed for smooth surface morphology. Reducing the temperature affected adatom mobility, eventually disrupting step-flow growth; increasing the temperature favoured the formation of high-aspect-ratio defects on the epilayer. A low thermal-budget nitridation step with a short nitridation time of 15 s proved to be effective in controlling polarity without inducing excessive surface damage on the sapphire substrate. Growth rate also influenced surface morphology, with an increase in RMS roughness and step-bouncing for faster growths; however, at growth rates of 1.4 $μ$m/h or higher step-flow growth could no longer form. Finally, we developed a V/III ratio fine-tuning procedure, whereby the reactor-specific value that induces optimal growth is inferred by growth-rate variations. With this method, N polar AlN templates with sub-nanometre RMS roughness were demonstrated for both 4° and 2° offcut sapphire substrates.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2402_03180
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Nitrogen-polar growth of AlN on vicinal (0001) sapphire by MOVPE
Pampili, Pietro
Pristovsek, Markus
Materials Science
Applied Physics
We report about metalorganic vapour phase epitaxy of smooth nitrogen-polar AlN templates on vicinal (0001) sapphire substrates. The influence of V/III ratio, growth temperature, growth rate, as well as sapphire-nitridation time and temperature were studied. With 4° offcut sapphire, step-flow growth was possible only with V/III ratios below 2. However, optimal V/III ratio required precise adjustment, possibly dependent on reactor history and geometry. A rather narrow temperature window of less than 40°C existed for smooth surface morphology. Reducing the temperature affected adatom mobility, eventually disrupting step-flow growth; increasing the temperature favoured the formation of high-aspect-ratio defects on the epilayer. A low thermal-budget nitridation step with a short nitridation time of 15 s proved to be effective in controlling polarity without inducing excessive surface damage on the sapphire substrate. Growth rate also influenced surface morphology, with an increase in RMS roughness and step-bouncing for faster growths; however, at growth rates of 1.4 $μ$m/h or higher step-flow growth could no longer form. Finally, we developed a V/III ratio fine-tuning procedure, whereby the reactor-specific value that induces optimal growth is inferred by growth-rate variations. With this method, N polar AlN templates with sub-nanometre RMS roughness were demonstrated for both 4° and 2° offcut sapphire substrates.
title Nitrogen-polar growth of AlN on vicinal (0001) sapphire by MOVPE
topic Materials Science
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.03180