Growth of AlBN Solid Solution by OMVPE

Abstract

ABSTRACTLayers of AIBN were grown on sapphire by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE) at 1050°C using triethylboron (TEB), trimethylaluminum (TMA) and ammonia as precursors. Boron is readily incorporated into the layers and its concentration in the solid phase can be made fairly high, up to at least 40%. However, single phase AIxB1–xN films can only be grown for compositions not exceeding x=0.01. For higher B concentrations a second B-rich phase is formed. This phase is shown to be most probably wurtzite BN based on the results of transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. The growth of this phase occurs within the framework of wurtzite AIN islands providing the sites for lateral growth of wurtzite BN. This leads to formation of columnar structure of AIN and BN crystallites oriented in the basal plane and existing side by side. This is one of the first observation of purely thermal growth of sp3 bonded BN.