Atomic-scale investigation of structural defects in GaN layer on c-plane sapphire substrate during initial growth stage

Abstract

Structural defects in the initial growth stages of GaN on sapphire, including stacking faults (SFs), threading dislocations (TDs), and mosaic structure containing grain boundaries, are investigated at the atomic scale. Individual grains in the as-deposited low temperature-GaN buffer layer are found to have twists correlated with those of the adjacent grains. These grains have little similarity on the stacking sequences, and the atomic arrangement on each side of the grain boundaries may be rearranged by annealing to achieve higher similarity in the stacking sequence. The TD identified as a-type at the top of the SFs-rich interfacial region is thought to originate from Frank partial dislocations. The Frank partial dislocation produces a distorted wurtzite-type structure. At the intermediate region of the basal-plane stacking fault between Frank and Shockley partial dislocations, the TD relieves the distortion in the wurtzite-type structure. In the TD, the wurtzite structure slips relative to the surrounding wurtzite.