GaN epitaxial layers grown on 6H-SiC by the sublimation sandwich technique

Abstract

We report on the structural and optical properties of GaN epitaxial layers grown on 6H-SiC. We employed the sublimation sandwich method to grow single crystal layers at high growth rates with free carrier concentrations of 2×1017 cm−3. Very narrow x-ray diffraction peaks of the GaN (0002) plane are obtained indicating the high quality of this system. These findings are directly reflected in the optical properties. The photoluminescence shows a single sharp exciton line with a half width of 4 meV. Impurity related donor acceptor transitions are seen with very weak intensities. However, at lower energies the internal luminescence transitions of the 3d transition metal ions Fe and V are observed.