Epitaxial growth of InN on c-plane sapphire by pulsed laser deposition with r.f. nitrogen radical source

Abstract

We have grown InN films on c-plane sapphire substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) with a radio frequency nitrogen radical source for the first time and investigated the effect of the substrate surface nitridation on the structural and electrical properties of InN films with reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), atomic force microscope, the Hall effect measurements and high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD). RHEED and HRXRD characterizations revealed that high-quality InN grows epitaxially on sapphire by PLD and its epitaxial relationship is InN (0 0 0 1)∣∣sapphire (0 0 0 1) and InN [2 -1 -1 0]∣∣sapphire [1 0 -1 0]. The InN crystalline quality and the electron mobility are improved by the substrate nitridation process. The area of the pits at the InN surface is reduced by the substrate nitridation process probably due to the reduction in the interface energy between InN and the substrate. The full width at half maximum of the -1 -1 2 4 X-ray rocking curve for InN grown by the present technique without using any buffer layers was as small as 34.8 arcmin. These results indicate that the present technique is promising for the growth of the high-quality InN films.