Anisotropy of elastic strains and specific features of the defect structure of a-plane GaN epitaxial films grown on r-plane sapphire

Abstract

The structural state of GaN epitaxial layers grown on r-plane sapphire through metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy has been investigated using X-ray diffraction. The interplanar spacings in two directions in the (11\( \bar 2 \)0) plane of the interface and in the direction perpendicular to it, as well as the diffraction peaks in the ϑ and ϑ-2ϑ scan modes in the Bragg and Laue geometries, are measured on double- and triple-crystal diffractometers. The intensity distribution maps for asymmetric Bragg reflections are constructed for two azimuthal positions of the sample. An analysis of the data obtained has demonstrated that the elastic strain is anisotropic and that the X-ray diffraction pattern parallel to the interface plane is broadened. The layers are contracted in the [1\( \bar 1 \)00] direction and unstrained in the [0001] direction. The broadening of the Bragg reflections in the [1\( \bar 1 \)00] direction is considerably larger than that in the [0001] direction. It is shown using the Williamson-Hall plots for the Bragg and Laue reflections that these broadenings are not related to different degrees of mosaicity but are determined by the local dilatations and misorientations around defects. The data obtained are analyzed, and the conclusions regarding the dislocation structure of the samples are drawn.