Increase in the growth rate of GaN single crystals grown by gallium hydride vapor phase epitaxy method

Abstract

AbstractA dependence of Gallium hydride (GaHx: x = 1, 2, 3) production on the growth rate of GaN crystals grown by the gallium hydride vapor phase epitaxy (GaH‐VPE) method was investigated. By this method, GaN crystals are synthesized in a reaction between GaHx and NH3. The growth rate of GaN crystals has been as low as 20 μm/h at a maximum because the poor reactivity of H2 gas with Ga metal limits the production of GaHx. In this study, the interfacial area between Ga metal and H2 gas was enlarged to increase the GaHx synthesis, which thereby enabled an increase in the growth rate to 68 μm/h. We showed clearly that the growth rate of GaN by the GaH‐VPE method is limited by the efficiency of the reaction between the Ga metal and H2 gas. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)