Achieve 2-inch-diameter homogeneous GaN films on sapphire substrates by pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

The 2-inch-diameter homogeneous GaN films have been epitaxially grown on sapphire substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique with optimized laser rastering and PLD growth conditions. The as-grown GaN films are characterized by in situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction, white-light interferometry, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), grazing incidence angle X-ray reflectivity, reciprocal space mappings, and micro-Raman spectroscopy for surface morphologies and structural properties. The as-grown 2-inch-diameter single-crystalline GaN films exhibit excellent thickness uniformity with a root-mean-square (RMS) inhomogeneity less than 3.4 % and very smooth surface with a RMS roughness less than 1.3 nm measured by AFM. There is a maximum of 1.2 nm thick interfacial layer existing between the as-grown GaN films and sapphire substrates, and the as-grown 310 nm thick GaN films are almost fully relaxed only with an in-plane compressive strain of 0.044 %. This work demonstrates a possibility for achieving high-quality large-scale GaN films with uniform thickness and atomically abrupt interface by PLD, and is of great interest for the commercial development of GaN-based optoelectronic devices.