Dislocation reduction mechanism os GaN films on vicinal sapphire substrates

Xu Shuang; Xu Sheng-Rui; Wang Xin-Hao; Lu Hao; Liu Xu; Yun Bo-Xiang; Zhang Ya-Chao; Zhang Tao; Zhang Jin-Cheng; Hao Yue

doi:10.7498/aps.72.20230793

Abstract

GaN materials are widely used in optoelectronic devices, high-power devices and high-frequency microwave devices because of their excellent characteristics, such as wide frequency band, high breakdown electric field, high thermal conductivity, and direct band gap. Owing to the large lattice mismatch and thermal mismatch brought by the heterogeneous epitaxy of GaN material, the GaN epitaxial layer will produce a great many dislocations in the growth process, resulting in the poor crystal quality of GaN material and the difficulty in further improving the device performance. Therefore, researchers have proposed the use of vicinal substrate to reduce the dislocation density of GaN material, but the dislocation annihilation mechanism in GaN film on vicinal substrate has not been sufficiently studied. Therefore, in this paper, GaN thin films are grown on vicinal sapphire substrates at different angles by using metal organic chemical vapor deposition technique. Atomic force microscope, high resolution X-ray diffractometer, photoluminescence testing, and transmission electron microscopy are used to analyze in detail the effects of vicinal substrates on GaN materials. The use of vicinal substrates can significantly reduce the dislocation density of GaN materials, but lead to degradation of their surface morphology morphologies. And the larger the substrate vicinal angle, the lower the dislocation density of the sample is. The dislocation density of the sample with a 5º bevel cut on the substrate is reduced by about one-third compared to that of the sample with a flat substrate. The special dislocation termination on the mitered substrate is observed by transmission electron microscopy, which is one of the main reasons for the reducing the dislocation density on the mitered substrate. The step merging on the vicinal sapphire substrate surface leads to both transverse growth and longitudinal growth of GaN in the growth process. The transverse growth region blocks the dislocations, resulting in an abrupt interruption of the dislocations during propagation, which in turn reduces the dislocation density.Based on the above phenomena, a model of GaN growth on vicinal substrate is proposed to explain the reason why the quality of GaN crystal can be improved by vicinal substrate.

Keywords:

Authors and contacts

Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Wide Band-Gap Semiconductor Materials and Devices, National Engineering Research Center of Wide Band-gap Semiconductor, School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi’an 710071, China

Corresponding author: Xu Sheng-Rui, srxu@xidian.edu.cn

Funds: Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2022YFB3604400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 62074120, 62134006), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Ministry of Education of China (Grant No. JB211108).

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References

[1]	Morkoc H, Strite S, Gao G B, Lin M E, Sverdlov B, Burns M 1994 J. Appl. Phys. 76 1363 Google Scholar
[2]	Kneissl M, Seong T Y, Han J, Amano H 2019 Nat. Photonics 13 233 Google Scholar
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Cited By

图 1 四个样品的AFM测试图　(a) 样品A, RMS = 0.371 nm; (b) 样品B, RMS = 18.3 nm; (c) 样品C, RMS = 54.1 nm; (d) 样品D, RMS = 56.9 nm

Figure 1. AFM images of four samples: (a) Sample A, RMS = 0.371 nm; (b) sample B, RMS = 18.3 nm; (c) sample C, RMS = 54.1 nm; (d) sample D, RMS = 56.9 nm.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 2 样品A, B, C, D的(002)面(a)和(102)面(b)的XRD摇摆曲线图

Figure 2. XRD rocking curves of (002) (a) and (102) (b) of samples A, B, C and D.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 3 四个样品的室温下PL图(a)和局部放大图(b)

Figure 3. PL images (a) and local enlarged images (b) of four samples at room temperature.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 4 样品D的TEM测试图　(a) g = [0002]; (b) $ g = $$ [ {11\bar 2 0} ] $

Figure 4. TEM images of sample D: (a) g = [0002]; (b) $ g= $$ [ {11\bar 2 0} ] $.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 5 斜切衬底上GaN的生长过程及位错传播过程

Figure 5. Growth process and dislocation spread of GaN on vicinal substrates.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

图 6 平面衬底上GaN的生长过程及位错传播过程

Figure 6. Growth process and dislocation spread of GaN on planar substrates.

DownLoad: Full-Size Img PowerPoint

表 1 样品A, B, C, D的RC曲线FWHM值和位错密度

Table 1. FWHM values and dislocation density of RC curves of samples A, B, C and D.

样品	(002)面 FWHM值/('')	(102)面 FWHM值/('')	螺位错密度/(10⁷ cm^–2)	刃位错密度/(10⁸ cm^–2)	总位错密度/(10⁸ cm^–2)
Sample A	235	282	11.0	4.20	5.30
Sample B	221	274	9.76	3.97	4.94
Sample C	196	251	7.69	3.33	4.11
Sample D	165	240	5.47	3.07	3.62

DownLoad: CSV

map

[1]	Morkoc H, Strite S, Gao G B, Lin M E, Sverdlov B, Burns M 1994 J. Appl. Phys. 76 1363 Google Scholar
[2]	Kneissl M, Seong T Y, Han J, Amano H 2019 Nat. Photonics 13 233 Google Scholar
[3]	郭海君, 段宝兴, 袁嵩, 谢慎隆, 杨银堂 2017 66 167301 Google Scholar Guo H J, Duan B X, Yuan S, Xie S L, Yang Y T 2017 Acta Phys. Sin. 66 167301 Google Scholar
[4]	武鹏, 张涛, 张进成, 郝跃 2022 71 158503 Google Scholar Wu P, Zhang T, Zhang J C, Hao Y 2022 Acta Phys. Sin. 71 158503 Google Scholar
[5]	Li G Q, Wang W L, Yang W J, Lin Y H, Wang H Y, Lin Z T, Zhou S Z 2016 Rep. Prog. Phys. 79 056501 Google Scholar
[6]	Jena D, Mishra U K 2002 Appl. Phys. Lett. 80 64 Google Scholar
[7]	刘成, 李明, 文章, 顾钊源, 杨明超, 刘卫华, 韩传余, 张勇, 耿莉, 郝跃 2022 71 057301 Google Scholar Liu C, Li M, Wen Z, Gu Z Y, Yang M C, Liu W H, Han C Y, Zhang Y, Geng L, Hao Y 2022 Acta Phys. Sin. 71 057301 Google Scholar
[8]	Zhou S J, Zhao X Y, Du P, Zhang Z Q, Liu X, Liu S, Guo A 2022 Nanoscale 14 4887 Google Scholar
[9]	Kung P, Walker D, Hamilton N, Diaz J, Razeghi M 1999 Appl. Phys. Lett. 74 570 Google Scholar
[10]	Zhao Y, Xu S R, Feng L S, Peng R S, Fan X M, Du J J, Su H K, Zhang J C, Hao Y 2022 Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process. 143 106535 Google Scholar
[11]	Ni Y Q, He Z Y, Zhou D Q, Yao Y, Yang F, Zhou G L, Shen Z, Zhong J, Zhen Y, Zhang B J, Liu Y 2015 Superlattices Microstruct. 83 811 Google Scholar
[12]	Fatemi M, Wickenden A E, Koleske D D, Twigg M E, Freitas J A, Henry R L, Gorman R J 1998 Appl. Phys. Lett. 73 608 Google Scholar
[13]	Shen X Q, Shimizu M, Okumura H 2003 Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 42 L1293 Google Scholar
[14]	Chang P C, Yu C L 2008 J. Electrochem. Soc. 155 H369 Google Scholar
[15]	Zhang H C, Sun Y, Song K, et al. 2022 Appl. Phys. Lett. 119 072104 Google Scholar
[16]	Fan X M, Bai J C, Xu S R, Zhang J C, Li P X, Peng R S, Zhao Y, Du J J, Shi X F, Hao Y 2018 Thin Solid Films 663 44 Google Scholar
[17]	Shen X Q, Matsuhata H, Okumura H 2005 Appl. Phys. Lett. 86 021912 Google Scholar
[18]	林志宇, 张进成, 许晟瑞, 吕玲, 刘子扬, 马俊彩, 薛晓咏, 薛军帅, 郝跃 2012 61 186103 Google Scholar Lin Z Y, Zhang J C, Xu S R, Lü L, Liu Z Y, Ma J C, Xue X Y, Xue J S, Hao Y 2012 Acta Phys. Sin. 61 186103 Google Scholar
[19]	Chuang R W, Yu C L, Chang S J, Chang P C, Lin J C, Kuan T M 2007 J. Cryst. Growth 308 252 Google Scholar
[20]	Xu Z H, Zhang J C, Zhang Z F, Zhu Q W, Duan H T, Hao Y 2009 Chin. Phys. B 18 5457 Google Scholar
[21]	Sun H D, Mitra S, Subedi R C, et al. 2019 Adv. Funct. Mater. 29 1905445 Google Scholar
[22]	Zhang H C, Sun Y, Song K, Xing C, Yang L, Wang D H, Yu H B, Xiang X Q, Gao N, Xu G W, Sun H D, Long S B 2021 Appl. Phys. Lett. 119 072104 Google Scholar
[23]	Shen X Q, Furuta K, Nakamura N, Matsuhata H, Shimizu M, Okumura H 2007 J. Cryst. Growth 301 404 Google Scholar
[24]	Chierchia R, Bottcher T, Heinke H, Einfeldt S, Figge S, Hommel D 2003 J. Appl. Phys. 93 8918 Google Scholar
[25]	郝跃, 张金风, 张进成 2013 氮化物宽禁带半导体材料与电子器件(北京: 科学出版社) 第25页 Hao Y, Zhang J F, Zhang J C 2013 Nitride Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Materials and Electronic Devices (Beijing: Science Press) p25
[26]	Xu S R, Hao Y, Zhang J C, Jiang T, Yang L A, Lu X L, Lin Z Y 2013 Nano Lett. 13 3654 Google Scholar
[27]	Yu H B, Chen H, Li D S, Wang J, Xing Z G, Zheng X H, Huang Q, Zhou J M 2004 J. Cryst. Growth 266 455 Google Scholar
[28]	Lee J H, Lee D Y, Oh B W, Lee J H 2010 IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 57 157 Google Scholar
[29]	Kong B H, Sun Q, Han J, Lee I H, Cho H K 2012 Appl. Surf. Sci. 258 2522 Google Scholar
[30]	Pakula K, Baranowski J M, Borysiuk J 2007 Cryst. Res. Technol. 42 1176 Google Scholar
[31]	Tao H C, Xu S R, Zhang J C, Su H K, Gao Y, Zhang Y C, Zhou H, Hao Y 2023 Opt. Express 31 20850 Google Scholar

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