Effect of the transition porous silicon layer on the properties of hybrid GaN/SiC/por-Si/Si(1 1 1) heterostructures

Abstract

Using the complexes of structural and spectroscopic diagnostic techniques, we investigated the influence of the layer of nanoporous silicon on the practical implementation and certain features of the epitaxial growth of GaN layers with the use of MBE PA on the templates of SiC/por-Si/c-Si.For the first time, the layer of nanoporous silicon has been introduced in the template of SiC/por-Si/c-Si where the layer of 3C-SiC was obtained by the substitution of the atoms; this had a number of indisputable advantages as compared to conventional silicon substrates. In particular, the abovementioned approach enabled a 90% reduction in the stress levels in the crystalline lattice of GaN layer that was synthesised on the SiC surface of the SiC/por-Si/c-Si template; it also decreased some of the vertical dislocations within the GaN layer. We also found that the use of the SiC/por-Si/c-Si template resulted in the formation of a more uniform (by its quality) GaN layer without any visible extensive defects. As a result, this enabled us to attain unique optical and electro-physical characteristics for the hybrid heteroepitaxial GaN/SiC structures.The obtained data will be very important for understanding the basic physics of nanoheterostructures of GaN/SiC/por-Si, thus promoting their potential applications in optoelectronics.