Impacts of anisotropic lattice relaxation on crystal mosaicity and luminescence spectra of m-plane AlxGa1−xN films grown on m-plane freestanding GaN substrates by NH3 source molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract

In-plane anisotropic lattice relaxation was correlated with the crystal mosaicity and luminescence spectra for m-plane AlxGa1−xN films grown on a freestanding GaN substrate by NH3-source molecular beam epitaxy. The homoepitaxial GaN film exhibited A- and B-excitonic emissions at 8 K, which obeyed the polarization selection rules. For AlxGa1−xN overlayers, the m-plane tilt mosaic along c-axis was the same as the substrate as far as coherent growth was maintained (x≤0.25). However, it became more severe than along the a-axis for lattice-relaxed films (x≥0.52). The results are explained in terms of anisotropic lattice and thermal mismatches between the film and the substrate. Nonetheless, all the AlxGa1−xN films exhibited a near-band-edge emission peak and considerably weak deep emission at room temperature.