Effect of N2 microplasma treatment on initial growth of GaN by metal–organic molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract

N2 atmospheric microplasma was applied to improve the yields and reproducibility of the initial growth of GaN by metal–organic molecular beam epitaxy (MOMBE). The plasma treatment was found to be effective in cleaning the surface, and excellent flat growth was achieved even in the early stage of the growth. The effect of the air exposure after plasma treatment was also studied, and the yield of the growth was found to be largely decreased by the air exposure even after the treatment. Therefore, the oxidation of the substrate is one of main causes of the poor initial growth and the installation of the microplasma equipment in the MBE loading chamber is useful for suppressing the oxidation after the treatment. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurement shows that the microplasma treatment is also effective for undoing the surface double steps through etching, which is helpful for a very smooth layer-by-layer growth in the early stage of growth.