Defect formation processes and their influence on mechanical stresses in green glow gallium phosphide structures

Abstract

Defect formation and their influence on internal mechanical stresses in epitaxial gallium phosphide layers grown from a gallium melt with the addition of finely-dispersed gallium nitride particles in an atmosphere of hydrogen with ammonia are investigated in this paper. It is established that an increase from 0.04 to 0.1 vol. % in the ammonia content in the gas mixture will result in growth in the quantity of defects, in particular, inclusions of the second phase, as well as internal mechanical stresses, while for an NH3 content greater than 0.1 vol. % − in the formation of shallow cracks and stress relaxation. The dependence between the internal mechanical stresses, the volume fraction, and the dispersion of the GaN inclusions in gallium phosphide is shown. The results obtained are discussed within the framework of the proposed model.