In situ stress measurements during MOCVD growth of thick N-polar InGaN

Abstract

The growth of N-polar InGaN films by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on N-polar GaN was investigated in order to understand the evolution of growth stress and the dislocation microstructure of relatively thick InGaN films (140 nm) in the absence of hexagonal hillocks and V-pits, which are typically present in III-polar InGaN. During in situ stress measurements of N-polar InGaN, growth initiates under an initial low stress state, which gradually transitions to a constant compressive incremental stress for the remainder of the film thickness. This behavior in the growth stress evolution in N-polar InGaN occurs regardless of the stress state of the GaN base layer (i.e., compression or tension), which was controlled by varying the temperature of the initial low temperature layer in a two-step temperature growth process for N-polar GaN. A blue shift in the PL peak emission of N-polar InGaN was, however, observed with increasing incremental compressive stress in the N-polar GaN base layer. These results provide insight into potential mechanisms of plastic relaxation in high crystal quality thick N-polar InGaN films grown by MOCVD.