Effect of surface pretreatment of r-plane sapphire substrates on the crystal quality of a-plane AlN

Abstract

Single-crystal a-plane AlN films were grown on r-plane sapphire substrates by hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE). We performed the optimization of thermal cleaning and nitridation conditions for r-plane sapphire substrates, and investigated the effect of ammonia (NH3) preflow on the crystallinity of a-plane AlN. An r-plane sapphire substrate with uniformly straight atomic steps was formed at 1000 °C, and NH3 preflow was subsequently supplied. The growth mode of a-plane AlN was promoted to be three-dimensional (3D) growth by the nitridation of r-plane sapphire substrates, and sizes of 3D islands were modified by changing the NH3 preflow time. The crystallinity of a-plane AlN films was improved by varying the NH3 preflow time from 30 to 90 s. The optimum crystal quality of a-plane AlN films was obtained with NH3 preflow for 30 s.